During the second quarter of 2011, foreclosure actions plunged by 51 percent in the tri-county South Florida region compared to the same three-month period in 2010, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

Lenders filed close to 7,200 notices of default between April and June in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Nearly 14,800 were filed in the second quarter of 2010.

These numbers represent a continued tumble from previous years – with 28,400 foreclosure actions filed in the second quarter of 2009.

“Lenders appear to be riding the brake when it comes to foreclosure actions in South Florida,” said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Florida-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures LLC.

“Consider that lenders are filing an average of only 78 foreclosure actions per day in 2011 compared to more than

290 per day in the first half of 2009,” Zalewski said. “The question is whether the number of filings will increase once the administrative irregularities tied to foreclosure process in Florida can be resolved by the lenders and regulators.”

At the current pace, foreclosure filings in 2011 would rank as the fewest number of actions since the South Florida real estate downturn began, according to the report.

Administrative irregularities in the foreclosure process in late September 2010 created a “foreclosure freeze,” especially in judicial states such as Florida.

Lenders filed 61 percent fewer notices of default in the tri-county South Florida region between October and December of last year than they did during the same three-month period in 2009, according to the report. The aftereffects continue to impact the South Florida market.

Lenders have also slowed foreclosure efforts due to the rising costs and difficulty involved with repossessing properties from borrowers in default, CondoVultures explained in a statement.

Prior to the real estate crash, lenders expected the foreclosure process to take about six months to complete and cost about $40,000.

In South Florida today, lenders now plan for an 18-month repossession process at about $100,000 per property.

Nearly 280,000 notices of default have been filed against borrowers in South Florida between January 2007 and June 2011.