Orlando's Foreclosure Inventory Winnows

More than one out of every 10 houses with mortgages in Metro Orlando were in some stage of foreclosure in September, according to a report released Wednesday by real estate research firm CoreLogic.
Of 21 cities analyzed, Orlando and Tampa led with more than 11 percent of their mortgaged houses facing some stage of foreclosure, the publicly traded analytics firm reported.
Even though those two Florida cities had highest rates of foreclosures in the survey, Orlando's supply of bank-owned properties had declined more since September 2011 than it had for all but one of the cities surveyed. Phoenix's foreclosure inventory dropped slightly more than Orlando's.

Orlando's pool of houses in foreclosure declined 1.3 percent from a year earlier. Nationally, the rate was down .7 percent. Tampa's inventory, meanwhile, shrunk by only .6 percent.
"The continuing downward trend in foreclosures along with a gradual clearing of the shadow inventory are signs of stabilization and improvement in the housing market," said Anand Nallathambi, president of CoreLogic.

Florida's foreclosure inventory rate was almost identical to Orlando's and it far exceeded that of any other state. In Florida, 11.5 percent of mortgaged houses were in the process of being reclaimed by lenders. Trailing behind Florida were: New Jersey, 7 percent; New York, Illinois and Nevada, all with 5 percent. Nationally, 3.3 percent of mortgaged houses were in foreclosure.
Florida saw a greater decline in foreclosure inventory than other states experienced during the reporting period.
Florida exceeded all other states, except California, for the number of houses that had completed the foreclosure process during the 12 months that ended in September. The state had 92,401 residential properties churn completely through the foreclosure legal process during those 12 months.

By Mary Shanklin, Orlando Sentinel

3:19 p.m. EDT, October 31, 2012