We have been cruising up A1A through Miami-Dade and Broward County Florida and have stumbled across a sizable jump in new residential foreclosure filings in Palm Beach County.  Let’s take a look at the monthly new filings for single-family homes and condo / townhouse properties.

In the month of October, there were 1,002 new foreclosure actions filed in the single-family home segment and 251 for condo/townhouse properties in Palm Beach County.  Those numbers equate to a a 128% month over month increase in the single-family home market and 146% increase in the condo/townhouse segment.  To add some perspective, let’s look at a chart of the combined filings.

The sharp upturn on the far right of the chart isn’t a positive indicator.  In 2012, there were 10,964 foreclosure actions filed throughout Palm Beach County which averaged 914 per month.  So far through October of  2013, there have already been 12,884 new foreclosure actions filed which averages 1,288 monthly.  Last time we checked, a 44% year-over-year increase in foreclosure filings is not indicative of a housing recovery.

So where are all of the distressed properties located?

Some of the cities with an elevated inventory of properties in foreclosure as of November 2013 are as follows:

• Boca Raton has 3,507 houses and 947 condo/townhouse properties in some stage of foreclosure
• Boynton Beach has 2,972 houses and 522 condo/townhouse properties in some stage of foreclosure
• Lake Worth has 3,701 houses and 251 condo/townhouse properties in some stage of foreclosure
• Delray Beach has 1,584 houses and 613 condo/townhouse properties in some stage of foreclosure
• West Palm Beach has over 5,000 houses and 1,343 condo/townhouse properties in some stage of foreclosure
• Jupiter has 1,390 houses and 219 condo/townhouse properties in some stage of foreclosure

These are just a few of the chart leaders.  Feel free to click on the chart to see where some of the cities rank.  There has been a serious diversion in fundamentals in the South Florida residential real estate market over the last few years.    Even with the massive shadow inventory of  foreclosures and thousands of new foreclosure actions filed monthly in the tri-county area, there remains a deficit in available units for purchase or rent.  Basically, the people who want to pay monthly for reasonably priced housing are getting squeezed, while the squatters continue to occupy well over 150,000 residential units in some stage of foreclosure throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County as outlined in this next chart.

Finally, if you think this problem is going away anytime soon, just look at this final chart and the pace new new foreclosure filings in South Florida.  Does this look like the beginning of a housing recovery to you?