Florida leads nation in vacated foreclosures, again

Florida has more vacant homes in foreclosure than any other state in the nation, easily beating out other large states with troubled housing markets, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks distressed properties.

There are 55,503 housing units in foreclosure in Florida that are vacant. That’s 33 percent of the 167,680 vacated foreclosures in the country. Florida’s vacated foreclosures are more than the next five highest states combined -- Illinois, California, Ohio, New York and New Jersey.

The vacated properties are a drag on property values because many are left neglected, although some cities in Florida have passed ordinances requiring banks to pay for the upkeep of foreclosed homes.

Combined with Florida’s lengthy foreclosure process, the vacated properties add to the state’s “shadow inventory” of homes that have yet to hit the market. Since foreclosed homes typically sell for much lower than market value, new foreclosed properties steadily being dumped on the market will dampen home values.

The average foreclosure takes 893 days in Florida -- nearly two and a half years, according to a report released Wednesday by state economists. There are also 22 percent of mortgages in Florida that are either delinquent or behind on payments as of April, in addition to the 10.5 percent in foreclosure.

The potential for more distressed properties to enter into foreclosure and the lag time for them to re-enter the market has led state economists to temper their projections for the housing recovery, which has been steadily improving in recent months. Numbers released Thursday byFlorida Realtors show existing single family home sales jumped 18.7 percent last month in the year-over-year comparison, and the median sales price rose 15.9 percent to $171,000. The housing market is being heavily boosted by cash sales, however, an indicator of investor participation. Cash sales made up 46 percent of all completed sales of single family homes in May and 73 percent of all completed condo sales.

RealtyTrac’s report shows three Florida metro areas in the top five cities in the country for vacant foreclosures: Miami, second with 13,901; Tampa, fourth with 9,998; Orlando, fifth with 5,569. Florida also has 85 of the top 100 zip codes for total vacant foreclosed housing units.

“Somewhat ironically, efforts to slow the slide of the housing market in previous years are now hampering a smooth recovery by holding back inventory of homes that almost certainly must sell in the future but are not yet listed for sale,” said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president.

But Blomquist also noted Florida and other states are passing new laws to speed up the foreclosure process. Gov. Rick Scott signed HB 87 into law this month, which reduces the time for a show cause hearing. Consumer advocates and foreclosure defense attorneys have decried the new law, but supporters of the law point to its consumer protections requiring more proof of ownership of a mortgage before beginning the foreclosure process and reducing the amount of time for a deficiency judgment.