With still no end in sight, February foreclosures for the 4 county metro Orlando area hit 7690. Despite the federal government’s efforts to slow down the number of foreclosures by imposing a 45 day moratorium, the number of filings for distressed properties continues to flow in. Statewide there are 46,391 properties that are in some point of the foreclosure process. Florida ranks number 4 in the country for foreclosures per housing unit. The top 3 states are Nevada, Arizona, and California with Las Vegas as the number one Metro area in the country for foreclosures with 1 in 60 homes in foreclosure.

While the number of foreclosures continues to rise, many banks are holding off on listing these properties for sale. There are over 700,000 of these properties nationwide making up what is known as a “shadow inventory” of unsold homes. This inventory will likely drag the housing crisis out longer when they are finally released into the inventory of homes.

We all know that the foreclosure crisis is far from over. Help from the federal government in the past has been slow to deal with the problem. Swift action will still be required to help stem future homeowners from ending up in foreclosure.  Banks must also act quickly to either restructure current loans of those who are at risk or liquidate the properties on their portfolio so we can eventually recover from this housing crisis faster.