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Original data · Updated August 19, 2026

More than half of South Florida foreclosure auctions are canceled before the sale

We tracked every scheduled residential foreclosure auction in Broward and Miami-Dade County over a twelve-week window — 1,036 cases. Of the 518 that reached a final outcome, 54.8% were canceled rather than sold. Neither county publishes this figure.

1,036
Auctions tracked
54.8%
Canceled, not sold
2
Counties
12
Weeks covered

How often does a scheduled foreclosure auction actually happen?

Less than half the time. Across both counties, 284 of 518 resolved auctions were canceled and 234 proceeded to sale. Miami-Dade cancels at a meaningfully higher rate than Broward.

CountyCanceledSoldStill scheduledCanceled share
Broward 138 131 237 51.3%
Miami-Dade 146 103 281 58.6%

“Canceled share” counts only auctions that reached a final outcome. Auctions still on the calendar are excluded, since their outcome is not yet known.

Why do foreclosure auctions get canceled?

Every cancellation in the clerk data carries a recorded reason. Across 282 canceled auctions with a reason on file, four causes account for essentially all of them.

Bankruptcy filed107

The homeowner filed bankruptcy, which triggers an automatic stay and stops the sale.

Canceled by the county100

The clerk pulled the sale — commonly a procedural or service defect in the case file.

Canceled per court order71

A judge stopped it — often a loan modification, reinstatement, settlement, or a successful motion.

Redeemed3

The debt was paid in full before the sale. Rare, but it happens.

Other1

Reason recorded outside the standard categories.

The pattern worth noticing: a bankruptcy filing is the single most common way a South Florida foreclosure sale gets stopped, accounting for 38% of cancellations with a recorded reason. Cancellations by court order — the category that usually reflects a modification, reinstatement, or settlement — account for another 25%.

How large are the judgments?

Final judgment amounts show these are ordinary homes, not distressed luxury inventory.

CountyJudgments measuredMedian judgmentUnder $500k
Broward 457 $237,072 75.9%
Miami-Dade 526 $330,332 68.4%

Median rather than average: a small number of very large commercial judgments would otherwise distort the figure.

Which cities have the most foreclosure auctions?

Miami
220
Homestead
57
Fort Lauderdale
40
Lauderhill
34
Hollywood
32
Miramar
31
Miami Beach
26
Sunrise
25
Tamarac
24
Coral Springs
22
Margate
21
Pompano Beach
20

Miami alone accounts for 21% of all scheduled auctions across both counties. Homestead is the second-largest concentration despite being a fraction of Miami's size.

What this means if your home has an auction date

The headline number is genuinely encouraging: a scheduled sale date is not the same as losing the house. But read the cancellation reasons closely, because none of them happen passively. Bankruptcy is a filing. A court order follows a motion, a modification, or a settlement. Redemption is money paid. Every outcome that stops a sale requires someone to act before the sale date.

Selling the property before the auction is a fifth path, and it does not appear in clerk cancellation categories at all — a sale that pays off the judgment typically shows up as a voluntary dismissal or a cancellation per order. If there is equity in the home, selling before the sale date preserves it; an auction generally does not.

Methodology

Compiled from the published Broward County and Miami-Dade County clerk foreclosure auction calendars, covering every scheduled residential sale with a sale date between July 8 – October 2, 2026 — 1,036 auctions in total. Status and cancellation reason are taken as recorded by each clerk. Cancellation rates are calculated only over auctions that reached a final outcome (canceled or sold); the 518 still on the calendar are excluded.

Known limitations. This is a twelve-week snapshot, not a multi-year trend, and it should not be read as one. Judgment amounts were recorded for 983 of 1,036 cases. One data caveat we corrected for: in the source calendars the cancellation-reason field is reused to hold the current sale date and time on auctions that are scheduled or already closed, so counting that field without filtering by status inflates cancellations substantially. Only records with a status of canceled and a genuine non-date reason are counted here.

What this data cannot tell you. It does not measure how long a foreclosure takes from initial filing to sale. Measuring that requires pairing lis pendens filings with their eventual auction, and Florida foreclosure timelines run longer than the window covered here. We expect to publish that figure once the underlying filings have aged.

Use this data

Journalists, researchers, and housing counselors are welcome to cite or republish these figures with attribution. Released under CC BY 4.0. For the underlying breakdown or a comment, email info@homerescueteam.net.

Home Rescue Team, "South Florida Foreclosure Auction Outcomes," August 2026. https://homerescueteam.net/south-florida-foreclosure-auction-outcomes/

Questions people ask about this data

How many South Florida foreclosure auctions actually get canceled?

Of 518 scheduled auctions in Broward and Miami-Dade that reached a final outcome between July 8 and October 2, 2026, 284 were canceled and 234 went to sale. That is 54.8% canceled — more than half.

Why do foreclosure auctions get canceled?

In our data the leading cause is a bankruptcy filing (107 of 282 recorded reasons), which triggers an automatic stay. Next is cancellation by the county (100), then cancellation by court order (71), which typically reflects a loan modification, reinstatement, or settlement. Three properties were redeemed outright.

Does a scheduled auction date mean I will lose my house?

Not necessarily. In this dataset the majority of scheduled auctions that reached an outcome did not proceed to sale. A scheduled date is a deadline, not a verdict — but the outcomes that stop a sale all require action before the sale date.

Is the cancellation rate different in Broward versus Miami-Dade?

Yes. Miami-Dade canceled 58.6% of resolved auctions versus 51.3% in Broward — about seven percentage points higher over the same period.

How large are South Florida foreclosure judgments?

The median final judgment was $237,072 in Broward and $330,332 in Miami-Dade. Roughly three quarters of Broward judgments and just over two thirds of Miami-Dade judgments were under $500,000.

Facing an auction date on your own home?

If there is equity in the property, selling before the sale date is usually how you keep it. We buy South Florida homes as-is, for cash, and we can tell you in one conversation whether that math works for you.

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