According to a recent CondoVultures.com report, lenders in the tricounty South Florida region are once again filing an increasing number of foreclosure actions–the first time since the “robo-signer” controversy was uncovered in September 2010.

In the third quarter of 2011, more than 9,700 notices of default were filed against properties in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. This number has been rising steadily, with only 6,800 notices of default for 2011’s first quarter and just under 7,200 notices for the second quarter.

“The lenders are going back to work when it comes to foreclosure filings,” said Peter Zalewski, a principal with Condo Vultures, LLC. “For several months, lenders were riding the brakes as they examined their internal policies and procedures related to the repossession process. A year later, the banks appear poised to upshift into a higher gear as it pertains to initiating foreclosure actions against borrowers in default in South Florida. The unknown is whether various state and federal government agencies that are threatening lawsuits will reach a compromise with the banks regarding the foreclosure freeze.”

Yet, even with the increase in default notices for the third quarter, 2011 is on pace to register the fewest foreclosure filings since the South Florida real estate crash began in 2007.

During the first nine months of 2011, lenders have initiated less than 24,000 foreclosure actions; the first quarter of 2007 alone had racked up almost 14,000, with 33,200 for the entire year. If the rest of 2011 keeps pace with the first nine months, the year should have around 32,000 foreclosure actions total.

Looking at the few years following 2007 in terms of foreclosures, 2011 isn’t looking so bad. 2008 ended with 75,700 actions and 2009 ended with 98,300. The first nine months of 2010 had been on the way to racking up 65,000 foreclosures, but with the revelation of the robo-signers–administrative irregularities in the repossession process–numbers went way down for the last quarter. 2010 ended, instead, with 57,600 foreclosures. Overall, this puts South Florida at 285,000 foreclosures from 2007 to the present.

When broken down by individual counties, 2011 has had nearly 9,500 foreclosures in Broward, almost 8,400 in Miami-Dade and just over 5,800 in Palm Beach.

Federal regulators have already requested mortgage servicer settlement plans which are expected to provide insight into the way in which the nation’s largest residential lenders involved in the foreclosure freeze intend on dealing with the administrative irregularities that brought the market to a standstill. Even with these plans, it is difficult to determine whether or not investors will once again feel confident enough to begin purchasing bank-owned properties on a wide-spread basis.

One thing the foreclosure freeze-uncertainty has done is promote the popularity of short sales. Unlike foreclosures, which take up to 18 months to complete, with no small cost involved, short sales can be transacted in fewer than six months, with expenses oftentimes limited to the outstanding principal and associated fees.

Since lenders have accelerated the process, investors have grown even more willing to pursue short sales. Buyers have purchased more than 8,400 condos and townhouses as short sales in the tricounty region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach between January and September of 2011, says a new Condo Vultures report. Industry watchers believe this will be a continuing trend for the rest of the year.