Austin foreclosure postings hit lowest quarterly level in more than two years

Category: Bastrop County, Hays County, Property Types, Real Estate Market Update, Residental, Travis County No Comment August 26, 2011

Central Texas follows the national trend: foreclosure postings fell to their lowest level in more than two years, according to latest figures released by the Foreclosure Listing Service.
The exact number of properties posted for September 6 foreclosure auctions in Travis, Williamson, Hays and Bastrop counties declined to 3,197 listings, which makes a 20% decline for the third quarter of 2011.
This is the lower quarterly foreclosure posting activity in 10 quarters, and the second consecutive quarter that postings fell below the 4,000 mark, according to George Roddy Sr., president of Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service.
The biggest decline was recorded in Travis, with 27% below the numbers recorded in the third quarter of last year. Roddy said Travis County usually has the highest volume of postings among the four counties his company tracks in the Austin metro area.
However, this doesn’t automatically mean that the local foreclosure picture is improving, said Peter Sajovich, a local real estate broker. Postings have dropped because “the foreclosure process is in chaos,” said Sajovich, president and CEO of eCounty Inc., an Austin-based real estate investment and development company that specializes in buying foreclosure properties for investors.
For September, 1,122 properties were posted in the region for upcoming foreclosure auctions — 25 percent fewer than in September 2010, Roddy’s company reported.