South Florida foreclosure filings drop 42 percent in third quarter

South Florida saw an average of 150 new foreclosure actions per day during the third quarter of 2010, down 42 percent from the third quarter of 2009, when there were 259 new filings per day, according to a new report by Condo Vultures. Overall, the foreclosure filing pace has been 179 actions per day thus far in 2010, which puts the region on track for less than 65,000 new foreclosure actions by the end of December, down from 98,000 in 2009. That would be the lowest annual total since 2007, which had 33,000 filings, Condo Vultures said. “Foreclosures actions — the first step in the repossession process – are still a significant problem for the region but the housing epidemic appears to be losing some momentum,” said Peter Zalewski, a principal at the consultancy and brokerage. “The decrease in filings raises a fundamental question of whether fewer borrowers are defaulting on their mortgages or whether lenders are seeking other options besides the foreclosure process to deal with nonperforming residential loans.” TRD