Florida Cities Among Highest Foreclosure Rates in Third Quarter

Seven Florida metro areas populate the list of top 20 highest foreclosure rates for the third quarter, released Thursday by Realty Trac, a California-based company that tracks foreclosed properties.

The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area ranked second on the list with one in every 35 housing units there receiving a foreclosure filing in July, August and September (Las Vegas topped the list with a foreclosure filing of one in every 25 housing units). That rate was up 12 percent from the second quarter, but down 21 percent from the same time last year. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metro area had the highest number of total foreclosures in the nation in the third quarter, good for one in every 41 housing units and seventh place. That rate reflects a 24.5 percent increase from the second quarter and a nine percent increase from the same time last year.

The other Florida metro areas on the list are: Orlando-Kissimmee (ranked 11th with a foreclosure rate of one in every 47 housing units), Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach (ranked 15th with a rate of one in every 53 housing units), Naples-Marco Island (ranked 18th with a rate of one in every 60 housing units), Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville and Lakeland (both ranked 19th with one in every 61 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing).