ST. PETERSBURG, FL—The headline saysplenty, but there's more to the story in South Florida. After adecline in commercial real estate foreclosures in February, SouthFlorida activity spiked in March, according to data provided bylocally based Off-Market Radar. In total, 39 CRE foreclosures above$250,000 were filed in Miami-Dade and Broward counties in March andApril. March saw the highest amount of activity with 24 filings,compared to 17 in February. The figure for April—the most recentmonth for which data was available—dropped again, with 15 reportedforeclosures.

Although April's decline sounds positive on the surface, furtheranalysis of the types of foreclosures filed may warrant concernamong investors, according to the Radar analysis. Of the 17February filings, the firm tracked only three above $2 million.Meanwhile, in March, seven foreclosures above $2 million werefiled, and April saw seven more.

"We were most surprised by the growing percentage offoreclosures over $2 million within the total filings above$250,000," says Brian McCarthy, VP and co-founder of Radar. "Thisis surprising because many investors feel the opportunities indistressed assets have largely passed, yet what we may actually beseeing is that the smaller deals have been foreclosed or handedback, leaving only the bigger deals."