A new year, same problem.  New foreclosure filings remain elevated in January for the greater Fort Lauderdale/ Broward County residential real estate market.  793 single family homes and 344 condo/townhouse properties received a foreclosure notice in the month of January.

As the media outlets continue to say the residential real estate market is recovering, it appears that nobody wants to pay attention to the elephant in the room (foreclosures).  Here is a look at the trend of new filings in Broward County, and the total  of 1,137 filings in January is a slight uptick from the December 2012 figure of 1,064.

We will continue to monitor the new filings, but we do predict that this chart will trend higher since all of the major banks have settled their outstanding litigation for wrongful foreclosures.

For a glance at where all of the 46,435 single family and condo / townhouse properties in foreclosure are located, below is a chart with data as of February 12, 2013.

Some of the Broward County, FL cities with the highest number of foreclosures are:

• Fort Lauderdale  – 3,914 houses and 1,045 condo/townhomes currently in foreclosure
• Miramar – 4,386 houses and 801 condo/townhomes currently in foreclosure
• Pembroke Pines – 3,865 houses and 818 condo/townhomes currently in foreclosure
• Hollywood – 3,177 houses and 990 condo/townhomes currently in foreclosure

These are just a few of the cities with the highest number of existing residential properties in foreclosure.  The Greater Fort Lauderdale  / Broward County real estate market will not see a noticeable improvement or recovery until these properties are sold to buyers with the ability to pay the mortgage.  A large percentage of these homes in foreclosure have been in default for several years and with the pace of new filings not slowing down, a true recovery is still a few years away.