Home foreclosure postings in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are down by 9 percent for September.

It’s the first time in more than a year that foreclosures are lower compared with the previous 12 months.

But it’s unlikely that the market has peaked, analysts say.

“It’s the year-to-date numbers that are important to look at, and they are still up,” said George Roddy, chief executive of Foreclosure Listing Service Inc., which tracks home foreclosure postings in North Texas. “This may not be good news – just a blip.”

Almost 3,500 North Texas homes were posted for sale at September’s foreclosure auction.

The biggest share – 1,695 homes – was in Dallas County.

Foreclosure postings declined in all four counties in the D-FW area, with the biggest being a 19 percent drop in Denton County.

Even with September’s declines, year-to-date foreclosure postings are up 12 percent in North Texas. Through September, 31,399 home foreclosure notices have been recorded.

Between 50 percent and 60 percent of the foreclosure postings result in an actual sale of the property.

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

“If the foreclosures are down this month and next month and then the next month, that’s a trend,” Mr. Roddy said. “It’s too early to say that.”

Most of the home loans now in default were made more than two years ago, he said.

“Think of how many goofball loans have been made since then,” Mr. Roddy said.

“I think we are going to see this going on for another two or three years.”

Source:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/classifieds/news/homecenter/realestate/stories/DN-foreclose_17bus.ART.State.Edition1.35a5d2a.html