Lenders initiated seven percent fewer foreclosure actions in South Florida in January 2010 on a year-over-year basis, with total filings slipping for the month below 5,800 in the tricounty region, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

By comparison, in January 2009 there were nearly 6,200 foreclosure actions - also known as Lis Pendens or Notices of Default - filed in the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. In January 2008, there were nearly 4,100 actions filed, according to a report prepared using the Condo Vultures® Foreclosure Database™.

"President Obama's loan modification program to keep people in their homes combined with a newfound willingness of lenders to work with borrowers appears to be slowing South Florida's foreclosure spiral downward," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC. "It is unclear if this sudden decrease in foreclosure actions in South Florida is a trend or just an anomaly due in part to the December holidays. If this does prove to be a trend, that would mean South Florida may not eclipse the psychological threshold of 100,000 foreclosure actions in a year."

Zalewski is scheduled to discuss South Florida's foreclosure trends in 2010 along with banking analyst Ken Thomas, who is a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School, at the upcoming Condo Vultures® seminar scheduled for Feb. 16 at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay Hotel just north of Downtown Miami.