High foreclosures to continue into 2014

CAPE CORAL — Despite rising real estate values, some areas of Florida continued to post some of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation in August, according to tracking firm RealtyTrac.

For example, Tampa's 3,879 foreclosures in August ranked it second in the nation behind Miami's 7,575 among the nation's 20 largest metropolitan areas. Tampa was ranked fifth in the nation in housing units per foreclosure filing, with 347 homes per foreclosure.

Other Gulf Coast metro areas with relatively high rates of foreclosures included Naples-Marco Island with 449 housing units per foreclosure and Cape Coral-Fort Myers with 501 housing units per foreclosures. RealtyTrac defines foreclosures as notices of default, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.

With one in every 201 housing units with a foreclosure filing in August, the Port St. Lucie metro area posted the nation's highest foreclosure rate among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more.

“The foreclosure floodwaters have receded in most parts of the country, but lenders and communities continue to clean up the damage left behind, which means the recent uptick in bank repossessions is a trend that will likely continue into next year,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, in a statement.