Published: June 23, 2007 01:51 pm      

Hays foreclosures down

San Marcos — The number of Hays County properties scheduled for foreclosure have continued to fall, with anticipated July listings down 26 percent from July 2006 and 38 percent from this month.

That held true for most other counties in Central Texas as well, according to Foreclosure Listing Service, which has been tracking foreclosure activity for more than 40 years.

Listings are down from last July seven percent in the Austin metro area, one percent in Travis County, seven percent in Williamson County and 14 percent in Bastrop County. Comal County was the lone standout, with a 54 percent increase. Caldwell and Guadalupe counties are not tracked by the FLS.

“The largest drop in July foreclosure posting activity among the counties located in the Austin metro area was a 26 percent fall in Hays County,” said FLS President George Roddy.

“For the upcoming auction in July, 55 foreclosure postings have been filed on almost $8 million worth of Hays County real estate due to a delinquent mortgage compared to 74 postings in July of 2006,” he said.

However, Roddy issued a caution as well.

“This ebb in filings of foreclosure notices should not be construed as a new trend, although that would make a lot of us happy. But the fact is this was simply an anomaly in a high-end foreclosure market.”

He continued, “This month’s dip in posting activity does not in any way effect my previous long-term forecast that foreclosure postings will remain on the high end of this foreclosure cycle for quite some time.”

July’s Hays County projected 55 postings compares to 74 in July 2006. Total postings for the year to date, including the anticipated July postings, total 510. During the same time period last year they numbered 538, making for five percent decline.