Florida retains foreclosure capital title

The Sunshine State still can't shake its title of foreclosure champion of the country, according to a new report, but the total is heading down.

Florida, overall, accounted for 25% of the nationwide total of U.S. foreclosure inventory in December, according to a new RealtyTrac report. That's the largest share of any state in the country, and a total of 306,018 properties in some stage of foreclosure or the bank-owned process, the report states. That's basically unchanged compared with December 2012, though it's down 18% from a peak of 371,216 properties in November 2010.

Florida also has a national leadership role in the 2013 foreclosure rate, another metric analyzed by Irvine, Cailf.-based RealtyTrac. In fact, eight Florida metro areas posted rates of total foreclosure activity among the top 10 in the country. That list includes Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater at No. 6 with 3.06%, and North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton at No. 10 with a 2.42% rate.