Foreclosure fallout hangs heaviest in Florida

[Crewleader]

By Tom Bayles & Aaron Kessler

A list of the biggest increases in foreclosure rates across Florida reads like a map of the fallout from the unbridled real estate boom.

Foreclosures spiked 788 percent during the last three years in the 20th Judicial Circuit, home to Port Charlotte, Fort Myers and Cape Coral. In the 12th Circuit -- Bradenton, Sarasota, North Port, Venice and Arcadia -- filings rose 631 percent from 2006 to 2008.

Statewide, foreclosures rose nearly 400 percent, with 623,570 properties receiving unwelcome attention from banks and mortgage lenders. Through May, another 175,612 properties entered the pipeline, according to a study prepared by a task force advising the Florida Supreme Court about how the judicial system can deal with the worst foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression.

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