The Stats and Nothing but the Stats on Tampa Foreclosure Reports

For those following the Tampa real estate market, RealtyTrac issued their August foreclosure report which contained a bit of good news/bad news for the local market.

The Disclaimers

When reading the following statistics, keep in mind the Tampa Bay area represents a large and well populated area including Tampa, St. Pete and Clearwater. It’s also important to remember, these foreclosure reports only indicate the raw number of actual homes in foreclosure…not the percentage of homes. As with any highly populated area, the more homes and new home buyers, the more foreclosures. Finally, the majority of homes listed are actually “lis pendens” which simply indicates the bank has filed the paperwork to begin the foreclosure process. Many homeowners will never reach the point of foreclosure.

The Good News

According to RealtyTrac, Tampa foreclosures are beginning to drop with month over month foreclosures declining from 5,918 in July of 2008 to 5,298 in August of 2008 and the Tampa Bay area ranking 34th in the nation (as compared to Cape Coral or Fort Myers reporting the 6th highest levels of foreclosures in the nation).

The Bad News

Despite dropping month over month, foreclosure rates for the Tampa area remain higher than one year ago. They are up only slightly from a year ago (year over year indicators) with August of 2007 coming in at 5,904 compared to 5,298 for August of 2008.

The Statistics

• 3,676 – Lis Pendens

• 1,027 – Actual Sale Notices

• 588 – REO owned

The Comparable Perspective

• Ratio of Tampa area homes in foreclosure: 1 out of every 244.

• Ratio of Sarasota/Bradenton/Venice area homes in foreclosure: 1 out of every 197.

• Ratio of Naples/Marcos Island area homes in foreclosure: 1 out of every 162.

• Ratio of Cape Coral/Fort Myers homes in foreclosure: 1 out of every 66.

You may also want to view New Tampa homes for sale in the New Tampa real estate marketplace.