North Texas figure jumps 26% over last year

11:11 PM CDT on Thursday, June 15, 2006

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

With mortgage rates inching up and consumer expenses soaring, most analysts weren't looking for a decline in local home foreclosures.

So July's 26 percent jump in North Texas residential foreclosure postings over last July comes as no surprise to the folks who track the market.

"I don't see any reason for it to fall off," said George Roddy of Foreclosure Listing Service.

"The major cause is credit card debt and overborrowing on properties.

"This is here to stay."

The Addison-based foreclosure analyst said Thursday that more than 2,700 North Texas homes are facing foreclosure at next month's auctions.

That's down from the 3,200 homes in June but remains significantly above last year's total for the month.

"July's postings would have been higher if the date of the sale wasn't on the Fourth of July," Mr. Roddy said.

"For that reason, a lot of lenders didn't post foreclosures for next month."

Even with the holiday, home foreclosure postings were up 44 percent in Rockwall County and 43 percent in Tarrant County.

Pending foreclosures rose 25 percent in Dallas County.

Not all of the homes posted for lenders' auctions are sold each month.

In many cases, the sales are delayed or the borrower reaches a new agreement regarding the debt.

Through the first seven months of 2006, more than 21,000 North Texas homes have been posted for foreclosure – an increase of 13 percent from postings in the same period of last year, according to Foreclosure Listing Service.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area has one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the country.

Rising home prices and increased mortgage costs have added to the problem, Mr. Roddy said.

"As prices go up, more people trying to buy a house need these creative financing packages, and they get in over their heads," he said.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com