New report: foreclosure crisis in FL getting worse listen

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According to a new report, the foreclosure crisis in Florida is getting worse.

RealtyTrac’s Market Foreclosure Report shows the Sunshine State posted the second highest number of filings and the third- highest rate of foreclosures in 2009.

The state reported 268,064 properties received a foreclosure filing in the first half of this year, a 7 percent jump from the previous six months and a nearly 42 percent hike from the first half of 2008. Only California posted a higher number for the first half of the year, with over 391,000 foreclosure filings.

RealtyTrac reports that 12 of the 50 U.S. counties with the highest foreclosure rates were in Florida.

Lee County, home to Fort Myers and Cape Coral, had the 2nd highest rate in the nation with 1 in 14 households receiving a filing.

Journalist Alyssa Katz visited the Lehigh Acres area in Lee County and wrote about the problems with housing there in her new book, Our Lot: How Real Estate Came to Own Us. She says the real estate boom ended in Florida by the fall of 2005.

We’ll have much more from our interview with Katz in upcoming broadcasts.