McLennan County experienced a 5 percent increase in foreclosure postings for the month of August compared with the same month last year, Foreclosure Listing Service reported Wednesday.

August figures already are available because the deadline has passed for properties to be posted for foreclosure next week and auctioned Tuesday on the steps of the McLennan County Courthouse.

A total of 106 properties have been posted for foreclosure in August, up from 101 in August of last year.

The good news is the number of properties posted for foreclosure in August is down from 104 in July. And so far this year, 845 properties have been posted, compared with 920 during the same period last year.

“Not all of the properties posted for foreclosure are auctioned off,” said George Roddy Sr., president of Addison-based FLS.

The lender often reaches an agreement with the delinquent owner before the sale.

Roddy estimated 25 to 40 percent of the properties get auctioned, and most of those are repossessed by the lenders. Individual buyers and investors acquire 10 to 15 percent of the properties, Roddy said.

McLennan County’s neighbor to the south, Bell County, has had 1,513 properties posted for foreclosure through August this year, a small drop from the 1,521 for the same period last year.

RealtyTrac, a California-based company that tracks foreclosures, released its midyear report Wednesday. It said 154 of the 206 U.S. metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more posted increased foreclosure activity during the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year.

Still, foreclosure activity dipped in nine of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates.

“While we’re seeing early signs that foreclosure activity may have peaked in some of the hardest-hit markets, foreclosures continued to rise in three-quarters of the national’s metropolitan areas in the first half of the year,” RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said.

Saccacio warned that if unemployment nationwide remains high, “foreclosure prevention efforts will only delay the inevitable.”

Foreclosures will pick up, he said, and home prices in many areas will suffer.

Las Vegas continued to post the nation’s highest metro foreclosure rate in the first half of the year, with 6.6 percent of its housing units, or one in 15, receiving a foreclosure filing. That is more than five times the national average.

Four states — Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona — are home to the top 20 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates. Florida leads the way with nine of the top 20.

mcopeland@wacotrib.com

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