Foreclosure Trends Continue with Texas Leading the Way

Data from ForeclosureListings.com comparing February to January show that Texas has witnessed the highest increase in statewide foreclosures with a rise of 35.3%, followed by Michigan at 17.54%, California at 11.93%, and Florida at 4.71%. Georgia showed a decline of 5.55% and Arkansas showed the largest drop in foreclosures at 28.6%. Atlanta and Denver saw decreases in foreclosures from January, yet the number of actual foreclosures in February was still relatively high at 1,039 and 2,056, respectively. "The foreclosure trend continues. We found it interesting that the larger cities as above had [better performance in term of relative month-to-month percentages] than the comparatively smaller cities of Spring, Texas, and of Garland, Texas, with 165 and 167 total foreclosures at 46% and 43% increases over January, respectively," said Kevin Simpson, a sales manager with ForeclosureListings.com. Larger cities such as Houston which showed an increase from January of over 37% with 1,192 homes foreclosed, and Phoenix, Ariz., with an over 34% increase and 1,645 homes foreclosed continue to demonstrate the plight of unemployment and abandonment in search of locations for people to live where they can find jobs. "But there were some signs of improvement, for lack of a better word," he said. Little Rock, Ark., showed a monthly drop of 35.34% with only 75 foreclosures from the previous month, and Riverdale, Ga., showed a decrease of 25% with only 956 homes foreclosed. Likewise, in two large cities of note: Washington reported 169 foreclosures, a difference of 19.9% less than January, and Atlanta saw a drop of 6.98% in the same time period.