ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FL — A 15 percent increase in foreclosure activity in September pushed St. Lucie County to No. 1 among Florida counties in foreclosures.
Spurred by 836 new filings during September, St. Lucie County was ranked first in foreclosure filings per property -- one of every 69 -- for the first time since April 2008, according to data released today by California-based RealtyTrac, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties. The 1,899 filings of all kinds — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — in September was 73.3 percent more than in September 2008.
In August, St. Lucie County ranked third behind Osceola and Broward counties.
Indian River County also had a sharp increase in foreclosure filings in September, moving the county up from 32nd to 13th among Florida counties. With 281 new filings out of 466 overall, Indian River County had a 50.3 percent increase over the previous month, though it was 7.4 percent less than a year ago.
In Martin County, foreclosure filings in September were down 14.4 percent from the previous month and almost the same as a year ago. Martin County fell from 31st to 38th in rank.
Foreclosure activity in the three Treasure Coast counties increases in St. Lucie and Indian River counties accompanied by a decline in Martin County seems to mirror recent unemployment rates. Indian River County’s unemployment rate was more than 15 percent in July and August, while the rate in St. Lucie County approached 15 percent in those two months. Martin County’s rate was around 11 percent in July and August. The state’s Agency for Workforce Innovation will release September unemployment rates on Friday.
Amy Baker, state economist for the Florida Legislature in Tallahassee, said unemployment is becoming more of a factor in foreclosure rates.
“As the housing boom collapsed, the early problems were related to that, but as the national recession turned into a global recession, we’re beginning to see more typical problems from the recession spread throughout the state,” Baker said in a telephone interview.
In a five-year tracking from 2003 to 2008, Baker said, Treasure Coast counties are among the hardest-hit counties not only in unemployment and foreclosure filings, but also in taxable retail sales and property value decline per parcel.
Statewide, foreclosure filings were down 11.8 percent from the previous month, but still 14.8 percent higher than a year ago. Florida fell from second to third among states, behind Nevada and California. Six states -- California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois and Michigan -- accounted for 62 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in the third quarter.
Though foreclosure filings nationwide fell 4.1 percent in September from the previous month, the 343,638 filings was still the third highest monthly total since the RealtyTrac report began in January 2005, behind only July and August of this year.
