The Metro Orlando, Florida area had the seventh highest rate of home foreclosures in the United States in 2008 with one in every 18 household receiving a formal default notice from a lender. In the four-county metro area, consisting of Orange, Seminole, Osceola and LakeCounties, that means that 46,843 properties had foreclosure filings taken against them. That’s three times the rate in 2007 and 5.5 percent of all households in the area.
Fort Lauderdale was just ahead of Orlando with a 5.9 percent foreclosure rate and Miami just behind at 5.2 percent. Sean Smith, Director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness, says that “It’s a reflection of an economy deep in recession.” He continued: “Housing is struggling to find a bottom. The credit crisis has worsened and, perhaps, accelerated the foreclosure process.”
For the entire state of Florida, 4.5 percent of homes were in some state of foreclosure. Among all US states, Florida was second only to Nevada in foreclosure filings for the year as a percentage of housing. Overall, Florida had 385,309 properties in the foreclosure process, which is more than double the amount for 2007. Nationwide, approximately 2.33 million homes received one or more foreclosure filings or notices.
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