LOCAL ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT | DISTRESSED HOUSING

Foreclosures begin to slow

By STEVE BROWN
Staff Writer sbrown@dallasnews.com

KYLE ALCOTT
Staff Artist kalcott@dallasnews.com

During the last 4 1/2 years, lenders have foreclosed on more than 21,000 Dallas-Fort Worth-area homes. At rst it was homeowners with questionable subprime loans. But more recently, most of the foreclosures have been caused by the crushing economic downturn. Only in 2011 have foreclosure lings begun to fall signicantly for the rst time in more than a decade. But analysts are reluctant to say the corner has been turned.

Dallas-Fort Worth monthly foreclosure lings

Number of homes posted for foreclosure each month in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties:
8,000 7,000

4,774
6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0

J FMAM J J A S OND J FMAM J J A S OND J FMAM J J A S OND J FMAM J J A S OND J FMAM J J A S 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Dallas-Fort Worth home foreclosure lings are running more than 10 percent below where they were at this time in 2010. Foreclosure lings peaked in early 2010 when more than 6,000 postings were recorded in one month.

D-FW foreclosure lings

Foreclosure postings in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are on track to be at the lowest level in three years in 2011. Number of foreclosure postings in the four-county area for each year:
(In thousands) 80 70 60 50 40

Falling behind in mortgage payments

The percentage of Dallas-area homeowners who were seriously behind in their mortgage payments has been falling since early 2010. But the number of homes in foreclosure remains high. Percentage of total home loans that are late on payments or in foreclosure
10 9

58,422*

8 7 6 5 4

7.4%
. U.S the

90

te in ys la da

s late 90 day

a eD in th

rea sa lla

4.8%

3.5%
. the U.S re in losu c fore
Dallas area

30 3 20 2 10 0 01 03 05 07 09 11 *Total for 12 months ending in September.

SOURCES: CoreLogic inc.; Foreclosure Listing Service

In

1.5%

1 0

e in the In foreclosur

D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M 2009 2010 2011

The bottom line

The number of properties 90-plus days delinquent is still substantial. So, Im not sure were ready to say that the worst is behind us altogether. There are still a lot of delinquent loans out there. At this time, lenders simply cannot handle foreclosing on a larger amount of homes each month due to the time, cost and manpower. But, if that were to change, it would certainly impact the numbers. George Roddy, president, Foreclosure Listing Service In 2010 a record of almost 64,000 homes were posted for foreclosure in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Thats more than even during the late 1980s real estate crash. With foreclosure lings now down in 10 of the last 12 months, its tempting to believe that the worst is over. Steve Brown, staff writer, The Dallas Morning News

James P. Gaines, research economist, the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University