More and more people are having to foreclose their homes in Fort McMurray.

According to data from Alberta’s Justice and Solicitor General, in the 2018-19 fiscal year, 220 statements of claims were filed.

In 2015-16, there were just 26.

President of the Fort McMurray REALTORS® Katie Ekroth tells Mix News the downturn in the economy is the most likely reason for the high numbers.

“There is a number of job shortages, there have been wage reductions as far as employment goes and people, unfortunately, aren’t making the money that they used to.”

The numbers are already much higher to start the 2019-20 fiscal year.

From April 1 to November 30, 2019, there were 219 foreclosures across the community.

Ekroth says these numbers could continue to rise in the near future.

“If we don’t see a turn in the economy or something that’s going to upsweep this, I foresee that we’re going to continue to see the increase in foreclosures coming onto our market.”

Despite the high number of foreclosures, she adds there’s still buyer confidence in Fort McMurray.

“I don’t think we’re gonna see people who are trigger-shy, they’re just gonna make sure that they can do it based on the pre-approval that they got… people aren’t looking to spend the top dollar that they’ve got available to them but they’re being more conservative.”

Meanwhile, the province’s Justice and Solicitor General notes the number of foreclosures has nearly doubled every year for the past five years.