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Fort Myers-Cape Coral top 2008 for foreclosures

By Staff | Jan 15, 2009

Cape Coral-Fort Myers had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation for 2008.
According to Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, 12.03 percent of housing units received a foreclosure related notice last year.
“It’s over six times the national average and over two times the state average,” said Daren Blomquist, a spokesman for RealtyTrac.
In Lee County, 41,040 properties received foreclosure related filings last year, up 219 percent from 2007.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers was not included in RealtyTrac’s official top 10 list for the year only because smaller metro areas were not counted.
Naples-Marco Island did not make the top 10 list for the same reason. But it would have landed squarely at No. 10 if all 230 metros that are tracked monthly by RealtyTrac were considered, Blomquist said.
In Collier County, 9,341 properties received foreclosure filings last year, up 234 percent from 2007. The percentage of housing units getting a filing was 4.98 — also well above the national average, Blomquist said.
The foreclosure rate is based on the percentage of filings to households. It takes into account the number of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.
Several months last year Cape Coral-Fort Myers ranked No. 1 in the country for its foreclosure rate.
Based on the largest metros, several Florida cities made the top 10 list for 2008. Fort Lauderdale came in at No. 6 in the nation, and Orlando followed at No. 7. Miami was next at No. 8.
Florida had the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate in 2008, with 4.52 percent of its housing units, or one in every 22, receiving at least one foreclosure filing during the year, according to RealtyTrac. There were 385,309 properties with filings.
Nevada came in first place for its state foreclosure rate last year. More than 7 percent of the state’s housing units, or one in every 14, received at least one notice. There were 77,693 properties with filings.
California had the most properties receiving filings last year — at 523,624.
Among the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, Stockton, Calif. had the highest foreclosure rate in 2008. In December, Cape Coral-Fort Myers had the second highest foreclosure rate in the country among the 230 metros — and the highest rate in Florida.
Lee County had 6,454 filings, or one for every 53 households. That was up 11 percent from November and up 98 percent from a year ago.
Naples-Marco Island ranked No. 21 in the country for its foreclosure rate last month — and 11th in the state. There were 1,223 filings, or one for every 153 households. That was down 13 percent from November, but up 118 percent from a year ago.
In Charlotte County, there were 756 filings in December, or one for every 127 households. It ranked eighth in the state, with filings up 60 percent from November and 73 percent from a year ago.
In November, Gov. Charlie Crist called for a voluntary moratorium on new foreclosure filings in Florida. But it is not yet clear how much that might help troubled borrowers in Southwest Florida — or other parts of the state.
In Florida, new filings were down by a few hundred in December and bank repossessions fell by about 20 percent, compared to November. But total filings were still up 3 percent in the state last month, according to RealtyTrac.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t see a huge impact,” Blomquist said.
RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows a total of 3,157,806 foreclosure filings were reported on 2,330,483 U.S. properties last year. That was an 81 percent increase in total properties from 2007 and a 225 percent increase in total properties from 2006.
The report also shows that 1.84 percent of all housing units in the United States, or one in every 54, received at least one foreclosure filing last year, up from 1.03 percent in 2007.
In the ranking, Las Vegas had the second highest metro foreclosure rate in 2008, with 8.89 percent of its housing units, or one in every 11, getting a notice.
In December alone there were filings reported on 303,410 properties nationwide. That was up 17 percent from November and up nearly 41 percent from a year ago.
“State legislation that slowed down the onset of new foreclosure activity clearly had an effect on fourth quarter numbers overall, but that effect appears to have worn off by December,” said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive officer, in a prepared statement. “The big jump in December foreclosure activity was somewhat surprising given the moratoria enacted by both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, along with programs from some of the major lenders and loan servicers aimed at delaying foreclosure actions against distressed homeowners.
“Clearly the foreclosure prevention programs implemented to-date have not had any real success in slowing down this foreclosure tsunami. And the recent California law, much like its predecessors in Massachusetts and Maryland, appears to have done little more than delay the inevitable foreclosure proceedings for thousands of homeowners,” Saccacio said.

Laura Layden is a staff writer for the Naples Daily News.