April residential foreclosure listings closely mirrored first-quarter reports of higher numbers across Denton County and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. However, officials say the Denton County monthly numbers are simply a spike in what otherwise has been a consistent or slightly decreased foreclosure market.

Denton County showed a 19 percent jump in home foreclosure listings for the upcoming April sale, an increase to 677 from 567 last month. For the first four months of the year, numbers show a 24 percent increase — up to 2,533 from 2,047 for the same period in 2009.

“I don’t know that it’s apples to apples,” said George Roddy Sr., president of Foreclosure Listing Service Inc., in explaining that properties reposted from month to month can skew comparisons. The carryovers can make the following month’s numbers appear higher.

“We’re showing some decline in actual postings if you take away the properties that have been posted over and over,” he said. “That’s still a good sign.”

The significant increase for April is an anomaly, he said, but one that doesn’t yet make a trend.

“Basically, we’re going to be in or about the same number of postings by the end of 2010 as we were in 2009,” Roddy said.

By 2011, the number of residential foreclosure listings and reposted homes are expected to begin showing consistent declines, he said.

Gerald Slater, an independent fee appraiser with Gage & Associates of Denton, agreed, saying that his firm has not seen an increase in the number of foreclosed homes since the last three quarters of 2009 and the beginning of 2010.

Most of the company’s residential foreclosures are in isolated areas — east of Denton along U.S. Highway 380 in pockets of housing subdivisions, around Dallas and in south Fort Worth — he said.

The Foreclosure Listing Service report indicated that Tarrant County saw the highest increase in foreclosures, with a 22 percent jump for April.

For the first four months, Tarrant and Denton counties tied in percentages while Collin County took the lead with a 25 percent hike in home foreclosures.

The luxury home market has been hit hard as prices have plunged, Slater said. The average market home value remains steady as families downsize to more affordable homes, he said.

However, Roddy said homes valued between $100,000 to $200,000, which represent some 80 percent of the residential foreclosure listings, are most affected because that bracket makes up the majority of Denton County’s home offerings.

“It’s kind of stabilized,” Slater said of home foreclosures in the Denton area. “We haven’t seen the number of foreclosures in Denton County or Texas that they’ve seen in a lot of other places, but then two is too many.”

The future for 2010 doesn’t look as rocky as past years, he said.

“I don’t look to see a big increase in foreclosures for the rest of this year,” Slater said.

DAWN COBB can be reached at 940-566-6879. Her e-mail address is dcobb@dentonrc.com .