Austin Real Estate Scene

 With all the national news about the huge increase in foreclosures around the U.S. we are starting to see some signs of it in the Austin-Round Rock areas. According to a article in the Austin Business Journal . We see a big jump in foreclosures but it doesn’t mean we are experiencing a trend yet. The next few months will tell us if Austin is trending towards a market where foreclosures are on the rise. There are some foreclosures experts who believe this rise will continue. We’ll track it here to see what happens.

February foreclosure postings in the Austin region jumped 56 percent over last year, according to a report from Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service Inc. A total of 832 foreclosures were posted for the February 5 auction, up from 535 in February 2006. Of the area counties, Williamson saw the biggest increase in foreclosure activity, rising 98 percent year-over-year to 301 postings. Travis County was up 38 percent to 403 postings and Hays rose 57 percent to 83. In the first two months of the year, postings were up 21 percent compared with 2006 to 1,389. George Roddy, senior vice president of FLS, says some of February’s surge can be attributed to the fact that the January auction occurred on New Years Day and consequently some postings were delayed. But Roddy says that would only account for as much as 15 percent of February postings. But Roddy says it’s too early to predict whether February’s surge is an anomaly or a harbinger of what’s ahead. “One month does not make a new trend,” he says. “We need to watch the next several months carefully. However, I believe we will continue to see foreclosures at high levels for some time and that we will periodically see these types of extreme surges.”
[Austin Business Journal]