Sunday, February 19, 2012

Florida has one-fourth of nation’s foreclosures

Florida's share of the nation's foreclosure crisis increased during the fourth quarter of last year compared with the same time in 2010 as other hard-hit states, such as California, shed some of their housing burden.
According to a report Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association, Florida carried 24.2 percent of the foreclosures nationwide, up a percentage point from the end of 2010, while California's foreclosure share dropped nearly 3 percentage points to 10.2 percent.
Economists from the Washington-based group attribute Florida's stubbornly high foreclosure inventory to its judicial foreclosure procedure, which requires a judge's approval for all cases. California is one of 29 states where repossessing a person's home does not have to go through the courts.
"The housing situation in California is turning around much more quickly, and we attribute that to the non­judicial regime," said Michael Frantantoni, vice president of research for the Mortgage Bankers Association. "A small minority of states is keeping the foreclosure rate much higher than it would be otherwise."
About 14 percent of Florida home loans are in foreclosure, by far the highest in the nation. New Jersey comes in second at 8.2 percent. Of the 16 states with the highest percentages of foreclosures, all but Nevada require a judicial proceeding.

Read the rest of the article at The Palm Beach Post

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