SW Florida Real Estate Market Heating Up Again

Although foreclosure rates in Florida still put it in the top five spot, it's safe to say that it's in a much better place compared to where it was in the mid 2000's says RealtyTrac's report for the month of November, Patricia Borns of News Press has the details.

This November, the nationwide foreclosure starts rate was down by 15%, the lowest of the total starts recorded since May 2006. Half of 2015 has shown this falling trend which is measured on a year-over-year basis, and it's also the lowest stage for scheduled auctions since 2005.

According to Daren Blomquist of RealtyTrac, there was a short-term increase in bank repossessions as they simultaneously work on their backlog on old foreclosures. When a year ago, there was a 60% shot up on repossessions nationwide.

"This also means the share of active foreclosures tied to bubble-era loans is shrinking, with 59 percent of all loans in foreclosure originated between 2004 and 2008," Blomquist said. "While that is still a disproportionate share of active foreclosures, it continues to decrease from 61 percent earlier this year and 75 percent two years ago,"

Florida attained the highest foreclosures in November at 6.435 which is greater than the double of Texas which is the second-highest completer. It was able to maintain its top five spot in the foreclosure ranking for the whole of 2015 - but along with that is the decrease in starts and other activity indicators. Three cities in Florida are included in the Top 10 metro foreclosure rates namely Tampa at rank 6, Jacksonville at rank 9, and Daytona Beach at rank 10.

For Doug Meschko of Land Solutions Market Research, there is nothing alarming with foreclosures in Southwest Florida and was even quoted describing it as a "nonissue."

"Foreclosures were the news of the past four or five years, but they're no longer the news of the day," Meschko said. "I've been tracking them since 2009, but stopped doing it two or three quarters ago."

Meschko adds that at the local level, foreclosures are "only a little above 2004," and that it is no longer taking long before foreclosed properties get absorbed back in the market, and are bearing higher price tags compared to the bad old days.

It's "party over" for buyers according to Meschko. . "We're in a retail market favoring the seller. Appraisals are up because foreclosures aren't in the mix. It's a healthy market again."