In today's Business section of the Dallas Morning News, Steve Brown reports "Suburbs are home of foreclosure woes." The headline is true only in the sense that there are more people and houses in the suburbs. Other than that, as the DMN data below shows, foreclosures are well distributed. Garland is listed as having the fourth highest number, behind Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington. Since Garland is the fifth largest city in the Metroplex, that's not too unexpected. Of the top 10, Garland, Mesquite, and Arlington have seen increases of 5% over 2006, the lowest except Cedar Hill, which had a 2% increase.

The Council attended a Financial Retreat last Monday, Dec 3, along with senior staff and department heads. A review of Residential Housing Trends presented by Bryan Bradford, Managing Director of Budget and Research, included information on local foreclosures. Data shows that there are 813 houses in foreclosure, or 1.4% of our total. While District 1 has 94 houses in foreclosure, 1.1% of our stock, the areas with the highest foreclosures are central and south Garland. District 6 in west Garland had the least, less than one percent (0.93%).

Top cities for 2007 foreclosure postings. The number and percent change from 2006: DMN Source: Foreclosure Listing Service City Fore- closures Increase 1. Dallas 8033 10% 2. Fort Worth 5913 14% 3. Arlington 2963 5% 4. Garland 1910 5% 5. Grand Prairie 1699 14% 6. Mesquite 1655 5% 7. DeSoto 1370 7% 8. McKinney 1202 16% 9. Cedar Hill 1145 2% 10. Frisco 1126 45%

Distribution of Garland Residential Foreclosures Click to Enlarge

Foreclosures in Metroplex cities of comparable size: Staff Source: RealtyTrac.com (Nov 2007) Comparison Cities Bank- Owned Houses Percent of Total Houses Mesquite 815 2.2% Garland 813 1.4% Arlington 1436 1.3% Irving 373 0.6% Plano 419 0.5% Richardson 156 0.5% Average 669 1.1%

Mr Bradford's projections showed that the numbers are expected to rise through Mar, and then the foreclosures will drop over 90% through 2008. These projections are subject to numerous interuptions, which may be beneficial or not, and were made before the federal agreements announced yesterday.

The foreclosure presentation led other data on housing values and sales tax dollars that was bearish. The staff projects a dip in the tax revenues to the city through 2008 and beyond. The Council's and staff's restraints on spending probably puts Garland in a better position than other Metroplex cities, but further belt-tightening will be required.

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