D-FW foreclosure filings drop 26% for January

Courtesy of: Steve Brown, Dallas Morning News, December 30, 2011

D-FW foreclosure filings drop 26% for January

 “The decline in North Texas foreclosures will continue into the new year.  Foreclosure filings are down 26 percent in January in the Dallas-Fort Worth area from the first month of 2011. It’s the biggest year-over-year decline in more than two years.  Lenders have scheduled 4,075 D-FW homes for foreclosure sale in January, Foreclosure Listing Service reported Friday.  The drop in next month’s foreclosures is the 11th consecutive month that the filings have been lower than in the previous year.
“Looking at year-on-year numbers, it’s pretty encouraging,” said George Roddy, CEO of the Addison-based foreclosure tracking firm. “I believe that postings will remain high for the foreseeable future. “However, it is a relief to the local economy that postings have inched down from the record high end of this foreclosure cycle.”
During 2011, North Texas home foreclosure filings were down 12 percent, the first full-year decline for the area in more than a decade. Still, lenders posted 61,676 D-FW homes for foreclosure last year. Not all the houses scheduled for forced sale by lenders are sold at the monthly auctions. In many cases, the foreclosure is delayed or the borrower reaches a new agreement with the mortgage holder.
The biggest declines in January home foreclosure filings were in Denton County, where they were down 33 percent from a year earlier.  Postings were down 22 percent in Dallas County and 29 percent in Tarrant and Collin counties.”
Area postings
Residential properties scheduled for foreclosure auction in January and change from a year ago:
CountyPostingsChange


Dallas                    1,792-22%
Tarrant                  1,334-29%
Collin                       523-29%
Denton                     426-33%
D-FW area             4,075-26%

SOURCE: Foreclosure Listing Service

-      Steve Brown, Dallas Morning News, December 30, 2011