Before everyone gets too excited about the “housing recovery” in the local papers, they should take a look at the trend in new and existing foreclosure filings.  The fact of the matter is that the foreclosure epidemic in South Florida is far from over.  What the market has been experiencing is merely an inventory shortage caused by the major banks halting foreclosure proceedings for over two years.  Here is a chart of the new foreclosure filings in Miami-Dade County:

Foreclosure filings on single-family homes increased 20% month-over-month from 870 in February to 1,040 March.  Meanwhile, the new filings in the condo-townhouse sector remained the unchanged at 613.

For a look at total new filings, combining single-family and condo/townhouse markets, take a look at the next chart.  The uptick in new filings is obvious at the tail end of the chart.  Another troubling statistic is the monthly average of total filings is 1,740 over the past 15 months – No Bueno!

Now that the major lenders have resolved their litigation and finalized the National Mortgage Settlement, they will ramp-up their foreclosure actions which will result in more distressed property sales in South Florida.  For a look at some of the cities with an elevated level of existing foreclosures, take a look at the next chart below.

Hialeah, Homestead and Miami Beach still top the list of areas with elevated foreclosure levels.  Here is the leader board:

• Hialeah – 3,510 single family and 4,408 condo/townhouse properties in foreclsoure
• Homestead – 3,680 single family and 1,607 condo/townhouse properties in foreclosure
• Miami Beach – 1,064 single family and 2,789 condo/townhouse properties in foreclosure
• North Miami Beach – 784 single family and 685 condo/townhouse properties in foreclosure
• Doral – 408 single family and 1,221 condo/townhouse properties in foreclosure
• Downtown/Brickell – 95 single family and 1,318 condo/townhouse properties in foreclosure

As a brief footnote, a true “housing recovery” would show declines of new foreclosure filings month-over-month, as well as a significant drop in the existing properties in foreclosure.  We haven’t seen that yet, so stay tuned.