Dallas/Fort Worth Foreclosures

Compared to this time last year, D/FW residential posting activity for February climbed 19% from the 4,695 postings filed for the second foreclosure auction of 2010.  However, residential posting activity on a month-to-month basis remained about the same with 5,580 postings filed for February compared to the 5,543 filed for the previous month.

Each month, slight fluctuations up or down are normal.  Counter to this month’s gain in posting activity over the past year, last month’s ‘same month-to-same month’ posting activity was down.  At that time, I cautioned that a one month decline did not mean that the foreclosure market had turned the corner.  And, in fact, it has not and is most likely far from a real recovery happening anytime soon. Until a significant amount of workers begin to be re-employed, there is simply no reason for foreclosure postings to decline.  Even re-employment in today’s market does not assure that a family’s bills will be paid because many workers are being hired at wages far lower than at their previous rate.

 I know the last thing any of us wants to hear is that this foreclosure crisis is far from being over; but, unfortunately, that is the case.  Plus, I am concerned that so many families’ budgets are already stretched well beyond their means and one little hiccup in their income stream or an unexpected major expense could push their budget over the edge for months to come.