Florida’s Turnaround
Auction notices, the first official filing in some states, increased from a year earlier in 19 states. They soared 726 percent in Oregon; 217 percent in Massachusetts; 214 percent in Utah; 199 percent in Connecticut and 104 percent in Delaware.
Florida filings fell 23 percent from a year earlier after a 46 percent plunge in foreclosure starts. Repossessions fell 16 percent. Auctions rose for the 11th straight month, up 2 percent from November 2012, in a sign that lenders are clearing their distressed inventory as prices rise, Blomquist said.
The state had the highest foreclosure rate for the 11th time in 15 months, with one in 392 households receiving a notice in November. Florida also has two metropolitan areas with the highest rates: Miami at one in 307 and Tampa at one in 410, according to RealtyTrac. Still, defaults have stopped rising, and the state is showing “improvement across the board,” Blomquist said.
Jacksonville Prices
Prices in the Jacksonville, Florida area rose about 16 percent in the year through November, with an average three- bedroom home listed today for about $150,000, according to Alex Sifakis, president of JWB Real Estate Capital LLC, a locally- based buyer of foreclosed homes.
JWB’s cost is about $120,000 to buy and renovate a similar property, which it either sells for a 25 percent gain or rents for $1,350 a month, Sifakis said in an interview. Florida’s judicial process means lenders will put distressed inventory on the market for at least 12 months, he said.
“Prices are definitely on the upswing, and there’s still room to run,” Sifakis said.
Prices Rising
The average sales price this year through November at Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate’s 80 offices in Florida jumped 13 percent to $285,000 compared with a year earlier. Traditional second-home buyers from the U.S. have returned to the market, along with a new segment of international purchasers, said Clark Toole, president of the brokerage.