Florida has now come up high on the foreclosure rate list. For several months now, it has stood at number four for its rate in foreclosures. In May of this year, Florida had as many as 25,736 filings at various stages for foreclosures. This was a total six percent high from April of this year. But what is definitely more alarming is that this is more than 72% more from the May of last year. To add to that, Florida has peaked at the second highest foreclosure nation in November of 2007, followed by third highest in March of 2008.
Looking at the statistics on foreclosures in Florida, it is seen that the areas of Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Tampa had the highest number of foreclosures for sale in the state. This metro area showed 1 filing for foreclosure at some stage out of each 4,773 mortgaged homes. Nationwide, this metro area ranks at 35 for its foreclosures. However, the two areas of Cape Coral and Port St. Lucie ranked within the top 10 foreclosure areas within the nation. The area between Cape Coral and Fort Myers had the second highest foreclosure rate among the metro areas of the US (1 foreclosure filing in every 79 mortgaged homes). Along with California, Florida has nine cities out of the top ten foreclosure cities in the nation. The only city that does not belong to these two states is Las Vegas, which ranks at number six.
The high rate of Florida foreclosure homes is because of the prevalence of subprime loans. People who take loans at high interest rates without financial stability churn out the most foreclosed houses in the state. At the same time, increasing interest rates and lowered property prices are forcing people to think that foreclosures are a better option. The only upside is that these foreclosed homes allow homebuyers to get homes at cheap rates.
