Palm Beach County Foreclosure Rate Soars

As homeowners continue their struggle with declining home values, plunging sales and soaring inventory, the Palm Beach Post reports that foreclosure filings in Palm Beach County nearly doubled last month. Here are the stats regarding this frightening, but very real market trend:

• One in every 642 households in Palm Beach County was in some stage of foreclosure in October, more than 1.5 times the U.S. rate.
• The number of new filings in the county leaped to 866 from 453 in October 2005, a 91 percent jump. There were 873 foreclosures in September.
• Florida foreclosure filings in St. Lucie County, meanwhile, saw foreclosure filings rise 28 percent over the previous October, to 133 from 104. There were 190 in September.
• Filings also more than doubled in Martin County - to 78 last month from 35 in October 2005 - but that market is too small to be a good indicator of future trends.

Analysts don’t know why local foreclosure filings have shifted up and down for so long, but defaults aren’t likely to plummet any time soon. Florida mortgage demand is still tepid, and the dramatic inventory glut, plus the huge disparity between incomes and home values in Florida has left the market susceptible to foreclosures.

Florida ranked second only to California in total foreclosures, one month after leading the entire U.S. One in every 640 households in the state in some stage of foreclosure, thanks in part to resetting adjustable-rate Florida mortgage loan products wreaking havoc on many homeowners. New foreclosure filings in the Sunshine State totaled 11,413 last month, up 50 percent over October 2005’s 7,629 filings.

The growing number of foreclosures in an already unstable market is exacerbated by $1.2 trillion in adjustable-rate Florida mortgage loans that are beginning to reset.

In the U.S., more homes entered foreclosure in October than in any other month this year. A total of 115,568 properties entered foreclosure, up 42 percent compared to October ‘05.

Nationwide, more properties entered foreclosure in October than in any other month this year. A total of 115,568 properties entered some stage of foreclosure, up 42 percent compared with the 81,351 foreclosure filings in October 2005, according to RealtyTrac.

And that adds up.

“So far this year, more than 1 million properties have entered some stage of foreclosure nationwide, up 27 percent from the same time last year,” said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.

RealtyTrac’s report includes all three phases of foreclosure:

1. Defaults (notice of default and lien pending).
2. Auctions (notice of trustee sale and notice of foreclosure sale).
3. Real estate owned, or REO properties (properties that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a lender).