South Florida Homeowners Under Pressure: The Q4 2026 Data Report

Foreclosure filings come from the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse, run by the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida. It compiles monthly filing counts from the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, county clerk offices and the Office of the State Courts Administrator. We read the monthly and yearly tables for the three counties and the state on October 19, 2026, when the monthly data ran through June 2026.

Condo findings come from OPPAGA Report 26-04, “Milestone Inspection Reporting Data 2024 and 2025,” published in July 2026 by the Florida Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability. It analyzes what local building officials reported to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation through March 31, 2026.

Insurance figures come from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s monthly “Detail by County” reports for August 31, 2026, the latest posted, and August 31, 2025, the same month a year earlier. We added Citizens’ two personal residential lines, multiperil and wind-only. Probate figures come from chapter 6 of the Trial Court Statistical Reference Guide published by the Office of the State Courts Administrator, for fiscal years 2024-25 (the latest edition) and 2023-24.

We did not use private data vendors, surveys, listing data or our own transactions. We also tried to count Broward buildings due for their county safety inspection, but the Broward Board of Rules and Appeals page could not be loaded for checking, so there is no Broward count of buildings due.

Together, the three counties had 5,133 foreclosure filings from January through June 2026, up 31.2% from 3,911 in the same months of 2025. Statewide, filings rose 40.5%, from 15,793 to 22,191, so the South Florida increase was large but smaller than Florida’s. April 2026, with 4,072 filings, was the busiest month for the state in a series that begins in January 2019.

The latest full year is 2025. That year Broward had 6.82 foreclosure filings per 1,000 owner households, the highest of the three counties and above the statewide 5.85. Miami-Dade had 5.82 and Palm Beach 4.88.

The three counties also carry the three largest Citizens personal residential policy counts in Florida. At the end of August 2026 they held 128,762 of Citizens’ 262,006 personal residential policies statewide, or 49.1%.

Broward recorded 1,952 foreclosure filings in the first half of 2026, up 27.7% from 1,528 a year earlier. It is Broward’s highest first-half total in the clearinghouse series, above the 1,907 filed in the first half of 2019, and June 2026, with 363 filings, was the county’s busiest single month since the series began.

Broward building officials reported 155 buildings that needed a phase two milestone inspection in 2025, the second-highest county figure in OPPAGA’s report. A phase two inspection is required when the first, visual inspection finds substantial structural deterioration. The count is incomplete: 7 of Broward’s 31 municipal building officials did not report 2025 data. OPPAGA also explains that Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach jurisdictions accept one inspection that combines both phases, and that the state told them to report a phase two inspection only when the building needed repairs. No Broward building appeared on OPPAGA’s 2024 or 2025 lists of buildings found unsafe or uninhabitable.

Citizens had 42,484 personal residential policies in Broward at the end of August 2026 (32,687 multiperil and 9,797 wind-only). A year earlier it had 96,633, so the count fell 56.0%. In August 2026 alone it dropped by 1,490.

Broward’s circuit court, the 17th Circuit, recorded 4,663 probate-category filings in fiscal year 2024-25, down 4.7% from 4,895 the year before.

Miami-Dade had 1,868 foreclosure filings in the first half of 2026, up 28.7% from 1,452. Unlike Broward, it remains well below 2019, when the county saw 2,786 filings in the first six months. For all of 2025 Miami-Dade recorded 3,069 filings.

The condo findings stand out most here. Miami-Dade building officials reported 308 buildings that needed a phase two milestone inspection in 2025, the most of any Florida county. Of the 24 buildings statewide that 2025 milestone inspections found unsafe or uninhabitable, 23 were in Miami-Dade. The City of Aventura alone reported 19 condominium and cooperative buildings in that group and did not answer OPPAGA’s question about whether they were vacated. North Miami also reported buildings. Seven of the county’s 34 municipal building officials did not send 2025 data, so the true numbers could be higher.

OPPAGA notes that state law does not define “unsafe” or “uninhabitable,” and that building officials used different approaches, including the Florida Building Code definition of unsafe, local ordinances and the inspecting engineer’s judgment. Miami-Dade also runs its own recertification program, which began in 1975, long before the state law; the county’s building recertification page explains its schedule and penalties.

Miami-Dade has more Citizens personal residential policies than any other county: 63,953 at the end of August 2026 (51,523 multiperil and 12,430 wind-only), down 55.1% from 142,436 a year earlier. The 11th Circuit, which covers Miami-Dade, recorded 5,828 probate-category filings in 2024-25, the most of the three counties, but 15.0% fewer than the 6,858 of 2023-24.

Palm Beach had 1,313 foreclosure filings in the first half of 2026, up 41.0% from 931. That is the largest percentage rise of the three counties and slightly above the statewide 40.5%. The total sits just under the 1,350 filings of the first half of 2019, and June 2026, at 246, was the county’s second-busiest month in the series after February 2019.

Even so, Palm Beach had the lowest full-year rate of the three in 2025: 4.88 foreclosure filings per 1,000 owner households, below the state rate.

For condos, OPPAGA says Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach reported the most buildings needing phase two inspections in 2024, between 218 and 543 each, without giving each county’s number. It gives no separate 2025 figure for Palm Beach, and 17 of the county’s 39 municipal building officials, 44%, did not report 2025 data. Any condo count for Palm Beach should be read with that gap in mind.

Citizens had 22,325 personal residential policies in Palm Beach at the end of August 2026 (16,626 multiperil and 5,699 wind-only), down 68.7% from 71,219. That is the steepest drop of the three counties and steeper than the statewide fall of 65.6%. The 15th Circuit, which covers Palm Beach, recorded 5,093 probate-category filings in 2024-25, down 4.7% from 5,346.

A foreclosure filing opens a court case. It is not a finished foreclosure or an auction. Cases can be dismissed, settled, brought current, or ended by a sale of the home. Rising filings mean more homeowners are being taken to court, not that the same number of homes will be lost.

Citizens’ county report counts policies but does not say why they left. One route is the state’s depopulation program: the Office of Insurance Regulation approves private insurers to offer to take over Citizens policies, and each policyholder decides whether to accept or decline the offer. A lower Citizens count does not tell you whether a homeowner’s coverage became cheaper, more expensive, or lapsed.

Probate filings count petitions, not estates or houses. One estate can produce several petitions, and OSCA’s probate category also includes a small number of “other social cases,” such as Adult Protective Services Act matters. The decline in filings does not, by itself, tell you how many inherited homes are being sold.

The milestone figures are partial. Statewide, 71% of local jurisdictions reported 2024 data and 64% reported 2025 data, and OPPAGA lists several problems with how the data were collected, including reports filed for the wrong year or for buildings other than condos and co-ops.

These numbers describe counties, not any one household. If one of these pressures applies to you, the general steps below can help you find out where you stand. They are general information, not legal or insurance advice.

Behind on a mortgage: the court papers you were served give the deadline to respond, and missing it can matter a great deal. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development lists approved housing counseling agencies at hud.gov/housing-counseling, and a Florida foreclosure attorney can review your case. Our Florida foreclosure timeline guide walks through each stage.

Condo in an older building: ask the association for its milestone inspection status, the inspector’s summary, its most recent structural integrity reserve study, and whether a special assessment is planned. If you sell, section 718.503 of the Florida Statutes requires those documents to go to the buyer. Our recertification guide explains the Miami-Dade and Broward programs.

Citizens policyholder: read any take-out offer or renewal notice closely, compare it with your current coverage and premium, and talk to a licensed insurance agent before you accept or decline. The Office of Insurance Regulation publishes details on the companies approved to take policies out of Citizens.

Inherited a house: before a sale can close, someone generally needs legal authority to sign, such as a personal representative appointed by the probate court. Talk to a Florida probate attorney about which type of administration applies; our probate guide explains the main paths.

Thinking about selling: compare what you would net from listing with an agent and from a direct cash sale. Florida Cash For Home buys houses and condos across South Florida as-is, but if your home is in good shape and you have time, a listing may net you more. Get both numbers in writing before you decide.

Foreclosure filings: Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse, Shimberg Center for Housing Studies, University of Florida, “Foreclosure Filings, Monthly and Yearly, 2019-2026,” compiled from the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, county clerk offices and OSCA. Monthly data through June 2026; read October 19, 2026. flhousingdata.shimberg.ufl.edu/eviction-foreclosure

Condo milestone inspections: OPPAGA Report 26-04, “Milestone Inspection Reporting Data 2024 and 2025,” July 2026, using data received by DBPR through March 31, 2026. oppaga.fl.gov/Documents/Reports/26-04.pdf

Citizens policies: Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, “Detail by County,” reported periods August 31, 2026 (run September 8, 2026) and August 31, 2025 (run September 9, 2025); personal residential multiperil plus wind-only. citizensfla.com/policies-in-force

Probate filings: Office of the State Courts Administrator, Trial Court Statistical Reference Guide, chapter 6, FY 2024-25 and FY 2023-24, circuit probate filings by county, probate category. flcourts.gov/Data/trial-court-statistical-reference-guide

Take-out program: Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Take-Out Companies, read October 19, 2026. floir.gov/property-casualty/take-out-companies. Miami-Dade program: Miami-Dade County, Building Recertification, read October 19, 2026. miamidade.gov/global/economy/building/recertification.page