S. Florida foreclosures plummet from a year ago

While South Florida saw only about a quarter of the foreclosures in August as in 2012, foreclosures in Miami-Dade County are occurring at a faster place than they were a year ago, real estate consultancy Condo Vultures said.

Some 1,558 notices of default were sent to homeowners in the tri-county region in August, a 68 percent drop from the same period a year ago, Condo Vultures numbers show.

Broward County saw the most action with 611 notices of default, down from 1,511 notices in August 2012; followed by 585 notices in Miami-Dade, compared to 2,048 notices a year ago; and 362 notices in Palm Beach, a 71 percent decrease from the 1,264 notices filed there the year before.

More than 29,500 foreclosures have been initiated on South Florida homes since the beginning of 2013, according to the consultancy’s foreclosure database, compared to more than 31,300 by this time last year.

Foreclosures had slowed in recent years following the “robo-signing” scandal, in which companies were found guilty of forging homeowners’ signatures on bank documents, but spiked again following a February 2012 agreement among states and the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders to provide about $25 billion in relief to borrowers. – Emily Schmall