Palm Beach County foreclosures see 50% jump

Palm Beach County foreclosures see 50% jump

By JEFF OSTROWSKI
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Palm Beach County's foreclosure rate jumped by more than 50 percent in February, according to numbers released Thursday by RealtyTrac, a foreclosure data firm in Irvine, Calif.

About 2,665 Palm Beach County properties were in some stage of foreclosure, up 53 percent from January and up 57 percent from February 2008.

The flood of foreclosures has sent the region's home prices plummeting - and has drawn bargain hunters who are betting that the market is near bottom.

Statewide, foreclosure activity spiked 14 percent from January. Lenders in December agreed to a 45-day voluntary moratorium on filings, but that respite ended at the end of January.

Florida, Nevada, Arizona and California had the nation's top foreclosure rates.

Among metro areas, Las Vegas was first, followed by the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area.

Nationwide, nearly 291,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice last month, up 6 percent from January and 30 percent from February 2008.

"It doesn't bode well," for the beleaguered U.S. housing market, said Rick Sharga, vice president for marketing at RealtyTrac. "At least for the foreseeable future, it's going to continue to be pretty ugly."

The number of foreclosures continues to soar nationwide.....