Florida posted the nation's highest state foreclosure rate in 2012.
Real estate data supplier RealtyTrac reported 3.11 percent of Florida housing units (or one in 32) were foreclosed on during the year.
Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president, attributes Florida's high numbers to its status as a judicial-foreclosure state, meaning courts handle the process.
Blomquist said lenders are catching up on the foreclosure backlog, which could mean another jump in the foreclosure rates this year.
"Florida posted the nation's highest state foreclosure rate for the first time since the housing crisis began," Blomquist said. "Although we are past the peak of the foreclosure problem nationally, 2013 is likely to be bookended by two distinct jumps in foreclosure activity."
Florida also has the highest inventory of foreclosed homes with 20 percent of the national total. The Sunshine State accounted for eight of the top 20 highest metro foreclosure rates in 2012.
It took an average of 853 days (roughly 28 months) to complete a Florida foreclosure, third-longest in the nation.
Flrida's length of foreclosure process trailed only New York and New Jersey. The U.S. average is 414 days with a non-judicial state such as Delaware taking as little as 145 days.
Statewide, there was a 53 percent increase in 2012 filings from 2011, but it was 42 percent below the more than 485,000 foreclosure filings in 2010.
In January 2011, Florida had 3,012 homes on the market with 335 foreclosures or 8.9 percent of the market.
Nationally, foreclosure filings in December were at the lowest level in almost six years.
In part, banks are handling foreclosures by renting properties to large investors, which then rent the property to individuals, to avoid dumping foreclosed property on the market resulting in an inventory glut and price depression.
