Texas Foreclosures Slowing Down
Texas foreclosures are going against the current foreclosure trend as recent reports show that the number of foreclosures are slowing down here. This report
was released by a California based tracking firm, RealtyTrac, in April 2008.During March, there were 10,700 foreclosure postings in Texas – a decrease of about 16% from March 2007. It is also a drop of nearly 13% from the number of foreclosure listings in February 2008.
Across the country 234,685 units were foreclosed upon in March this year – a 57% jump from the number of foreclosure units in March 2007 and a 5% increase from February 2008. According to the year-by-year count of foreclosures (including defaults, auction and repossessions), they increased on the whole by about 129%. This indicates that a good number of defaulting borrowers are just walking away from their financial problems through deeding back their properties to the lenders. In comparison, auction notices have spiked by 32%. The deed-in-lieu permits the lender to take over the unit without arranged a foreclosure auction in the courtroom.
California and Florida continued to be the top rankers together with Ohio in of this year.
California ranked first with 64,711 foreclosures – an increase of about 20.66% from March 2007. California’s amount of foreclosed homes, when looking at its annual numbers, has risen by 106%. Florida came second with 30,254 foreclosure filings marking a jump of 112% from March 2008. But there was a drop of postings from February 2008 by about 7%. Ohio ranked third with 11,273 foreclosure listings in March showing a rise of 37% from March 2007. It was a 9% increase from February 2008.
According to this latest trend, figures alone cannot give a comprehensive picture of the situation. Although interest rates have been reduced, the number of foreclosures will continue to go up and up. This shows that the focus has shifted from the interest issue to other matters – unemployment, increase in food, fuel prices and fall in the real estate market. Even with reduced interest, it makes no sense to continue with the mortgage as the value of the house is more often than not less than the loan amount. Compounded with rising prices, the economic scenario has become toxic and dangerous. Many contacting counseling centers are worried about lowering income and increasing prices of essential goods. In the previous year, 22% complained of lowered income. This year the number is 28%. In April, many spent an average of $335 per month on groceries – an increase from $291 from April of the previous year. This year $242 is spent on gas while it was $181 in 2007. Thus, a mixture of problems has been included to the foreclosure mayhem.
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