Texas foreclosure numbers down, recent report shows

Texas is bucking the national trend of rising property foreclosure rates, according to a California-based research company.

A total of 10,700 Texas properties entered the foreclosure process during March, down more than 16 percent from the volume of filings recorded in March 2007, a recent report by Calif.-based RealtyTrac shows. The March foreclosure figure also represents a decrease of almost 13 percent from filings reported this past February.

Nationwide, a total of 234,685 properties entered the foreclosure process during the month of March -- marking a 57 percent increase from the number of filings in March 2007 and a 5 percent bump from February 2008's mark, RealtyTrac reports.

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James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTRAC, points out that on a year-over-year basis as of the end of March, default notices and bank repossessions nationwide were up nearly 57 percent and 129 percent, respectively -- an indication "that more defaulting homeowners are simply walking away and deeding their properties back to the foreclosing lender," Saccacio says.

Auction notices, by comparison, jumped by 32 percent during the period.

"This deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure process allows the lender to take possession of a property without putting it up for public foreclosure auction," Saccacio adds.

Once again, California and Florida earned the top spots in RealtyTrac's latest foreclosure tracking report. Both states, along with Ohio, reported the highest foreclosure totals for the month of March.

California was number one with a total of 64,711 foreclosures in process -- marking a jump of 20.66 percent compared with March 2007, and a year-over-year spike of nearly 106 percent.

Florida reported the second-highest total -- 30,254 filings. That figure reflects an increase of nearly 112 percent from figures posted in March 2007. However, foreclosure filings in Florida dropped by nearly 7 percent between February and March 2008.

The No. 3 spot goes to Ohio, which reported 11,273 foreclosures in process in March -- an increase of more than 37 percent from the number of filings posted in March 2007. Foreclosure totals in the Buckeye State rose nearly 9 percent between February and March of this year.