Foreclosure Numbers Fluctuate in Central Texas
A new report from RealtyTrac shows Austin-area foreclosure numbers are down, but also up. Photo courtesy Flickr.com/photos/respres/2539334956Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
By Era Sundar, KUT News
The Central Texas real estate market got some good news from the latest home foreclosure report. But the real estate market isn’t home free just yet. What can home owners and investors expect from the fluctuating housing market?
The Austin-area foreclosure numbers are down, but they’re also up. First, the bad news: Foreclosures almost doubled from the first to the second quarter of this year. But the good news is that foreclosures are lower overall this year than last year, according to a new report by RealtyTrac – an online marketplace for foreclosed properties.
RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist says the recent spike in foreclosures could be due to the mortgage settlement in April between the Texas Attorney General and five major lenders.
“What that settlement basically did is it gave clear guidelines for lenders to move forward with processing foreclosures,” Blomquist says. “We believe that allowed lenders to push through a lot of foreclosures that maybe they had been holding back on foreclosing on until this settlement was finalized.”
Blomquist says the increase shows there is still some distress in the market, but that the overall foreclosure trend is heading downward.
John Rosshirt with the Texas Association of Realtors says that the fluctuating numbers should not cause concern.
“One thing people should know is that it goes in fits and starts. Just because it’s great this month – if it’s a little bad next month, that’s not a horrible sign,” Rosshirt says. “That’s just how things work. The overall trend is that we’re going to be having fewer and fewer foreclosures.”
Rosshirt says that while the market is getting healthier, federal programs to modify mortgages are not necessarily the cause of the trend. The programs may have helped a few homeowners avoid foreclosure, he says, but have not been as successful as was hoped.
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