We realize that it is difficult not to get caught up in all the hype of this “housing recovery”, but the fact remains that the shadow inventory of properties in some stage of foreclosure continues to grow.  Between August 1st and today (Sept 20th), the level of single family homes and condo/townhouse properties in foreclosure throughout Greater Fort Lauderdale and Broward County has grown by nearly 15%.  There is not a single city in the area that has seen a drop!  Take a look at the city-by-city tour of Broward County foreclosures:

First, you will notice that there are (3) cities “maxed-out” at over 5,000 single-family homes in foreclosure.  They are Fort Lauderdale, Miaramar and Pembroke Pines.  All three have over 5,000 houses in some stage of foreclosure.  Let’s do a quick cheat sheet on the market leaders as of 9/20/13:

• Fort Lauderdale has more than 5,000 houses and 1,269 condo/townhomes in foreclosure
• Miramar has more than 5,000 houses and 1,007 condo/townhomes in foreclosure
• Pembroke Pines has more than 5,000 houses and 1,008 condo/townhomes in foreclosure
• Hollywood has 4,572 houses and 1,256 condo/townhomes in foreclosure
• Coral Springs has 3,217 houses and 1,366 condo/townhomes in foreclosure
• Pompano Beach has 2,897 houses and 1,256 condo/townhomes in foreclosure

These are just some of the cities with the highest levels of shadow inventory in Broward County, Florida.  Feel free to peruse the chart to see where your city stands.  Basically, every city in the area had 10-15% month over month increases in this last foreclosure search.  Without counting the properties over the 5,000 cap, the shadow inventory currently stands  at 50,014 houses and 16,251 condo/townhouse properties in some stage of foreclosure in Broward County.  So let’s just say we are nearing the 70,000 residential properties in foreclosure mark (and growing).

As for the pace of new filings, it has moderated slightly after the spike in June, but still remains strong.  In August, there were 886 single-family homes and 288 condo/townhouse properties receiving a new foreclosure notice in Broward County, for a total of 1,174 residential properties.

Luckily the pace of new filings is back around the trend line, but is still much higher than in 2012.  Our last chart today is the total number of new foreclosure filings in Broward County, simply combining the single-family home filings and the condo/townhouse filings.  After stabilizing around the trendline just over 1,000 monthly filings, the pace will most likely increase slightly through the end of the year.

In 2012, the monthly average was 1,332 new filings per month and so far in 2013 the monthly average is 1,946 filings.  That is a 46% increase in the average monthly foreclosure filings.  That must be a new leading indicator and sign of this “housing recovery” that we keep hearing about.  Stay tuned and we will update Miami-Dade County and Palm Beach County, along with inventory, pace of sales and price data.  Have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine!