The latest report on residential foreclosures is a bit of a mixed bag.

While foreclosures listed for July auction are up 59 percent compared to the same time last year, the number of residential postings is the lowest in nine consecutive months for Denton County, according to Foreclosure Listing Service Inc.

Records show 384 homes were posted for foreclosure for the July 1 auction, up from the 242 postings for the July 2007 residential foreclosure auction.

But compared to last month’s 437 postings, July foreclosures are down 12 percent.

“That’s encouraging that it’s the lowest it’s been in nine months,” said Linda Ratliff, economic development director for the city of Denton. “However, I would be cautious because one month isn’t a trend yet. Hopefully we’ll see it lower next month.”

However, residential foreclosure postings for July have historically been lower than for the month of June in Denton County, according to Bonnie Brown of Foreclosure Listing Service.

Part of the 59 percent increase in residential foreclosure postings is tied to where last year’s auction fell on the calendar. The auctions are held on the first Tuesday of each month, and the July 2007 auction fell on Independence Day — so a number of lenders skipped a month.

For a 10-county area including Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties, a total of 3,747 homes are on the foreclosure auction list for July, up 33 percent from last July’s total of 2,809.

For the first seven months of the year, residential foreclosure postings for Denton County total 3,168, up 37 percent from the 2,310 posted during the first seven months of 2007.

“We are not at those record levels we saw [last year] when we were over 4,000 a month,” said George Roddy, president of Addison-based Foreclosure List­ing Service. “But I think this is where it’s going to stay for a while.

“And we are still at a very un­healthy level of foreclosures.”

The Dallas Morning News contributed to this report.