Foreclosure Filings Decline In May

foreclosures-decliningNew foreclosure filings fell in Broward and Palm Beach counties in May, another indication that the once-crushing mortgage crisis has passed.

Filings fell 73 percent in Palm Beach County — to 363, compared with 1,331 in May 2013, according to a report Tuesday by RealtyTrac Inc.

In Broward County, new foreclosure filings fell 75 percent. Broward had 275 new cases filed last month, compared with 1,087 in May 2013, RealtyTrac Inc. said.

It was the 10th month of the past 11 in which filings in each county dropped from the same period the year before.

Still, both counties saw modest annual increases in cases scheduled for foreclosure auction and bank repossessions.

“There are fewer distressed homeowners left over from the last housing crisis,” said Daren Blomquist, a vice president of RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing firm based in Irvine, Calif. “The pain point now is that those properties that started the foreclosure process two or three years ago are being pushed through [the court system] slowly but surely.”

RealtyTrac monitors public records for three types of foreclosures: new filings, cases scheduled for auction and bank repossessions.

Foreclosures in Florida fell 30 percent in May from a year ago, the 10th consecutive month with a year-to-year decline.

But the Sunshine State had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate for the eighth month in a row, a sign of how deep-rooted the housing downturn was in Florida, Blomquist said.

 

Source:  SunSentinel