A new year brings a new record for pending foreclosures.

January 2008 is starting out with a 4 percent bump in home foreclosure postings in North Texas.

Lenders have posted 3,672 area homes for foreclosure next month, Foreclosure Listing Service said Thursday.

That's the biggest total yet for a January foreclosure auction in Dallas-Fort Worth – 30 percent more than in 2007.

"It just keeps going," said Foreclosure Listing Service chief executive George Roddy. "But I really think we are close to the top, unless we come up with something new.

"I think we are going to be here for a while," he said. "And the levels of foreclosure we are seeing today are pretty unhealthy."

Almost 43,000 D-FW area homes were posted for foreclosure in 2007 – a record and up 10 percent from 2006.

Between 50 percent and 60 percent of the monthly foreclosure postings result in an actual forced sale of the property. In some cases, the sales are delayed or the borrower reaches a new agreement regarding the debt.

The biggest increase in January's postings was in Denton County, where the number of homes scheduled for sale rose 17 percent. Tarrant County was next in line, with a 15 percent jump.

Foreclosure totals in Dallas County were unchanged from a year earlier, and the number of postings fell 13 percent in Collin County, according to Foreclosure Listing Service.

Since the next foreclosure sale falls on New Year's Day, that may have limited the number of transactions scheduled.

Based on the most recent census data, the rate of North Texas foreclosure postings in January equals about one out of 580 total housing units.

Forecasters predict that as many as 2 million Americans could lose their houses to foreclosure during the next year and a half because of the prevalence of subprime, adjustable-rate loans. And recent so-called rescue plans unveiled in Washington aren't expected to help the majority of troubled borrowers.

"It's not only the mortgage stuff we have to worry about, but also the high gasoline prices, taxes and credit card debt," Mr. Roddy said.