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According to a Foreclosure Listing Service Inc., foreclosures in the Austin area have reached 14,000 for the year. This figure represents a 57% increase when compared to last year and, according to the president of Foreclosure Listing Service, George Roddy, Sr., these numbers represent the highest number of foreclosures in Austin since the company started keeping track in 2001. To make matters worse, over 1,200 properties are currently listed to go to foreclosure auction in December, making it the 11th consecutive month with more than 1,000 homes going up for foreclosure.

Despite the unfortunate foreclosure news, the Austin-Round Rock area was recently listed as the best performing city according to the 2009 Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best Performing Cities Index. Factors considered when creating the index included employment rate, technology output, salary growth and job sustainability. The Austin area also came in second on Texas A&M University’s fifth annual Aggie 100 list in terms of the number of Austin companies to make the list. Companies were included in the list according to the amount of growth they experienced during the period spanning from 2006 through 2008. Austin businesses included on the list were:

· River Place Golf Group – 21st place
· Catapult Systems Inc. – 22nd place
· Salvaggio, Teal & Associates – 26th place
· Vanguard Fire Systems LP – 45th place
· The Payton Co. – 54th place
· Corkran Energy LP – 66th place
· MOSAK Advertising & Insights – 72nd place
· Mechanical Reps Inc. – 80th place
· Native Land Design – 84th place

It is due to its strong employment opportunities that the state of Texas is expected to rebound from the recession than most of the country. Yet, despite the positive outlook for the state of Texas, a survey recently conducted by Citigroup Inc. has found that Texans are still tightening up on their finances. In fact, the survey found that approximately 57% of Texans have decided to postpone making major purchases. Furthermore, 38% have found themselves needing to take money out of savings in order to help pay for their regular expenses. Approximately one-third of the respondents also stated that they were working longer hours in order to keep their heads above water.

Despite the belt tightening measures that many Texans are taking, they are also optimistic about the future of the state’s economy. For example, approximately 67% of respondents felt that local business conditions would improve over the next year and 72% felt their personal financial situation would improve during this same timeframe.