Foreclosure trend reverses, spikes in many cities

Foreclosure activity is on the rise in 15 states, which bucks the national trend from the past few years. While U.S. foreclosures spiked during the recession, they dropped to historically low levels later as tight lending standards banned all but the most worthy creditors from getting a loan.

In October, foreclosure activity rose 55 percent in Florida, 50 percent in Georgia, 28 percent in Texas, and 24 percent in Michigan, among 11 other states experiencing sharp rises from a year ago, reports real estate research firm ATTOM Data Solutions.

Further, 84 of 219 metro areas – or 38 percent – posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity in October. In Houston, foreclosure activity surged 198 percent year over year, followed by Tampa-St. Petersburg (up 67 percent) and Miami (up 55 percent).

While foreclosure activity measures homes in every phase of the foreclosure process, foreclosure starts specifically measures the number of homes in the early stage of the foreclosure process, with only a handful of missed monthly mortgage payments. A look at foreclosure starts finds that Florida’s Panhandle cities are not impacted, but there are spikes in other metro areas.

Florida cities ranked by October “foreclosure start” changes

1. Gainesville – up 400% year-over-year
2. Jacksonville – up 332% year-over-year
3. Cape Coral-Fort Myers – up 252% year-over-year
4. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford – up 198% year-over-year
5. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach – up 194% year-over-year
6. Lakeland-Winter Haven – up 151% year-over-year
7. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach – up 116% year-over-year
8. Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island – up 85% year-over-year
9. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater – up 75% year-over-year
10. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville – up 35% year-over-year
11. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton – up 46% year-over-year
12. Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent – down 11% year-over-year
13. Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin – down 18% year-over-year
14. Tallahassee – down 53% year-over-year
15. Port St. Lucie – down 65% year-over-year

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