Texas foreclosures continue to rise

Houston Business Journal - 2:11 PM CST Tuesday, February 13, 2007

State and national residential foreclosure figures are continuing to rise, according to a new report by RealtyTrac Inc.

In Texas, 14,728 new foreclosure filings were reported over the course of January -- the highest number of new foreclosures posted by any state in the United States, according to RealtyTrac.

To date, Texas is averaging one foreclosure for every 547 households -- making it the state with the sixth-highest foreclosure rate.

And while those 14,728 new foreclosure filings represent an increase from the number of filings posted in Texas in January 2006, that increase is less than 1 percent, RealtyTrac officials note.

Nationally, the month-end numbers are up as well. There were 130,511 new foreclosure filings were reported as of Jan. 31 -- a jump of almost 25 percent compared with the end of January 2006.

That figure equates to an average of one new foreclosure for every 886 households in the United States.

The RealtyTrac report is based on data on more than 800,000 properties from nearly 2,500 counties across the United States -- including databases of pre-foreclosure and foreclosed properties.

RealtyTrac is an online marketplace for foreclosure properties. The company's database includes more than 1 million properties across the country -- including pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, for sale by owner, resale and new-construction properties.