That growth on my neck is still there. It still looks ugly. But it's not getting any bigger. Thank God.

That's one way to describe RealtyTrac's November foreclosure report covering the Tampa Bay area.

Foreclosures filings in Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough and Hernando counties totaled 6,148 in November, 4,218 of which were "lis pendens" filings that initiated foreclosure proceedings against delinquent properties.

Foreclosures declined month over month and year over year, but not by much. Filings amounted to 6,216 in October 2009 and 6,783 in November 2008.

I would have expected a slightly higher annual decline for two reasons: Late 2008 was when financial markets froze up and financing was scarce. And home sales improved this fall thanks to the first time home buyer tax credit.

Florida foreclosures increased to 52,935 in November.

Here's the chart: Download Realtytracnov09

I don't put much stock in the county foreclosure numbers, but Pasco showed a suspiciously large 30 percent decline year over year, to 886. You can see the county breakdowns by clicking on the link above.

Either Pasco foreclosures were artificially high in November 2008 or artificially low in November 2009. I sure don't see a renaissance in home sale in Pasco.

Tampa Bay's 4,218 lis pendens cases were nothing to cheer about. Think about it: Annualized, that's more than 50,000 new foreclosure cases a year. Positively painful. We need to cut that number in half. The only tonic is probably job growth. Government intervention hasn't helped much.