According to RealtyTrac, Florida’s foreclosure activity hit a 46-month low in February, with 13 percent fewer properties receiving a foreclosure filing than the month prior and 65 percent fewer than a year ago, reports the South Florida Business Journal.
February’s activity was 71 percent less than the state’s peak of 64,588 foreclosure filings in April 2009.
Despite this improvement, the 18,760 properties in Florida with a February foreclosure filing was still the nation’s second highest.
But, foreclosure declines seen in Florida and across the nation likely have to do with the fallout from last year's allegations over robo-signing and document fraud, which still have many lenders carefully inspecting paperwork and procedures.
“Foreclosure activity dropped to a 36-month low in February, as allegations of improper foreclosure processing continued to dog the mortgage servicing industry and disrupt court dockets,” RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said. “While a small part of February’s decrease can be attributed to it being a short month and bad weather, the bottom line is that the industry is in the midst of a major overhaul that has severely restricted its capacity to process foreclosures. We expect to see the numbers bounce back, but that will likely take several months. And monthly volume may never return to its peak in March 2010 of more than 367,000 properties receiving foreclosure filings.”
Late last year, Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Ally Financial temporarily halted some foreclosures while they investigated their practices. But, they have since restarted foreclosures.
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