Lee foreclosures stabilize

FORT MYERS — Foreclosures in Lee County held steady in February as lenders initiated 636 foreclosure actions on properties, according to the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investment Association.

February's foreclosure actions were 3.9% higher than the number filed in January and 84% greater than the number filed in February 2011.

The year-over-year jump in foreclosures in February is because lenders held back filing foreclosures last year because of state litigation over the foreclosure process. While the increase in foreclosure actions in February was significant compared with February 2011 on a percentage-change basis, the number of foreclosures in February was much lower than the thousand-plus filed each month during the years of the real estate bust.

The top three banks filing foreclosure actions in Lee County in February were Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank.