Dallas-Fort Worth foreclosure filings fall for 2nd straight month

Home foreclosure filings for Dallas-Fort Worth have fallen for the second month in a row. But industry analysts say it's too early to say that the flood of residential foreclosures is ebbing.

Lenders posted 4,686 area homes for foreclosure in June. That's down 7 percent from a year ago to the lowest level in 15 months, Foreclosure Listing Service said Thursday. Home foreclosure filings for May decreased 12 percent year-over-year.

Even with those declines, a record of almost 32,000 foreclosure filings have been made in the four-county area so far in 2010, up 10 percent from a year ago.

"It's good news that the numbers have been down for the last two months, but we are still way up for the year," said George Roddy, president of Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service. "We can't say we are out of the woods yet."

Still, the trend is encouraging.

Foreclosure filings for Collin County are down 18 percent from a year ago for next month's auction. Postings are 8 percent lower in Tarrant County and 5 percent lower in Dallas County.

"I've thought 2010 would be the peak year for foreclosures," Roddy said. "If next month is down again, we could say a trend has developed."

The foreclosure volumes remain near record highs.

For the first half of 2010, lenders have posted 31,852 D-FW homes for forced sale. About 40 percent of the filings this year have been in Dallas County.

In 2009, a record of more than 61,000 home foreclosure filings were made in the D-FW area – up 23 percent from 2008.

"I think there are reasons foreclosures won't go down by much for a while," Roddy said, including estimates that almost 15 percent of Dallas-area homeowners with loans owe more than their house is worth. "Some of them are just walking away."

Source "Dallas Morning News" Steve Brown