83 Properties Per Day Were Seized by Lenders in South Florida During 2009

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(MIAMI, FL) -- According to a new report from Condo Vultures, a Bal Harbour Florida based real estate consultancy firm, more than 30,000 properties in the tricounty South Florida region were repossessed through foreclosure in 2009, representing a 16 percent year-over-year increase compared to 2008 when 26,000 properties were taken back by lenders.

Lenders seized 8,864 properties in the fourth quarter of 2009, outpacing the 8,240 properties seized in the third quarter, the 5,992 properties repossessed in the second quarter, and the 7,311 properties taken back in the first quarter, according to the Condo Vultures report produced using government records in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.

"Lenders repossessed an average of 83 properties per day in South Florida in 2009," said Peter Zalewski, a principal Condo Vultures.  "The number of bank repossessions could have been higher if the South Florida court system was not overwhelmed with foreclosures right now. The courts and government are searching for creative measures - including online auctions and required discussions between borrowers and lenders at the early stages of mortgage defaults - to stem the foreclosure problem."

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