Total foreclosure filings up 11 percent from Q2; up 9 percent from Q3 2008.

Texas reported 29,838 properties with foreclosure filings in the third quarter of 2009, an increase of 11 percent from the previous quarter and 9 percent above the level reported in the third quarter of 2008, according to the latest RealtyTrac^® U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. 

Foreclosure activity in Texas was up more than 17 percent in September from the previous month to 13,216 properties with foreclosure filings, a 44 percent increase from September 2008.

“Texas saw a slow but steady rise in foreclosures over the third quarter of 2009,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Relative to the state’s foreclosure woes is its worsening unemployment rate, which jumped to 8.2 percent in September — the highest level reported in 22 years.”

One in every 316 Texas housing units received a foreclosure filing during the third quarter, ranking 28^th among the 50 states.

As it has for almost two years now, California continues to lead the nation in total foreclosure activity by a large margin on both a monthly and quarterly basis. For the third quarter, California reported 250,054 properties with foreclosure filings. Florida posted the second highest activity level — 156,924 properties with foreclosure filings. Arizona posted the third highest level in the nation, reporting 50,342 properties with foreclosure filings. Nevada came in fourth highest, reporting 47,925 properties with foreclosure filings during the quarter, while Illinois tallied the fifth highest total, documenting 37,270 properties with foreclosure filings. The top five states alone represented 58 percent of all foreclosure filings in the nation during the quarter.

For September, the nation’s top 5 states for total foreclosure filings were California (86,337), Florida (55,036), Nevada (18,766), Michigan (16,767), and Georgia (14,972). Activity in the top five states accounted for 58 percent of the nation’s foreclosure total in September.

Kaufman County posts state’s top foreclosure rate in third quarter

Kaufman County posted the highest county foreclosure rate in the state for the third quarter, with one in every 112 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — 1.2 times the national average and 2.8 times the state average. Bastrop County was a close second, with one in every 119 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter — 1.2 times the national average and 2.7 times the state average. Johnson County posted the third highest foreclosure rate, where one in every 122 housing units received a foreclosure filing — 1.1 times the national average and 2.6 times the state average.

Harris County leads state in foreclosure activity in the third quarter

Harris County led the state, reporting 6,077 properties with foreclosure filings for the quarter. Dallas County had the second highest total, reporting 4,062 properties with foreclosure filings. Tarrant County came in third, tallying 2,941 properties with foreclosure filings. Fourth highest for the quarter was Bexar County, reporting 2,230 properties with foreclosure filings. Travis County documented 1,478 properties with foreclosure filings, the state’s fifth highest foreclosure total in the quarter.

State a significant contributor to nation’s foreclosure activity for quarter and month

Texas accounted for 3 percent of the 937,840 properties with foreclosure filings reported nationwide for the third quarter and 4 percent of the 343,638 properties with foreclosure filings reported for September. Total U.S. activity declined 5.4 percent between the second and third quarter of the year, but was up 23 percent from the third quarter of 2008. One in every 136 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter, the highest quarterly foreclosure rate since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in 2005.

Report methodology

The RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing reported during the month — broken out by type of filing at the county, state and national level. RealtyTrac’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). If more than one foreclosure document is filed against a property during the month — which is extremely rare — only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The report also checks if the same type of document was filed against a property in a previous month. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state the property is in, the report does not count the property in the current month.

For current news and information regarding foreclosure-related issues and trends, check out our blog at www.ForeclosurePulse.com.

Texas Top Foreclosure Rates By County – Q3 2009

Texas Top Foreclosure Totals by County – Q3 2009

Texas Top Foreclosure Rates By County – Sept 2009

Texas Top Foreclosure Totals by County – Sept 2009