Foreclosure activity in North Texas is at a 40-month low based on the number of distressed properties scheduled for May auctions, research firm Foreclosure Listing Service Inc. said Friday. The filing deadline for next month’s auctions has passed, with 3,719 foreclosure postings filed in the nation’s fourth-largest metro area. The number of postings is down 23% from a year earlier and at the lowest level since January 2008. The study covers foreclosure auction postings in four Texas counties — Denton, Collin, Tarrant and Dallas — where about 9.6 million people live. While the statistics show significant improvement from last April when 4,861 filings were posted, George Roddy, president of Foreclosure Listing Service, said the D/FW area is not out of the woods yet. “I believe this is an artificial decline in foreclosure notices due to the tremendous scrutiny applied by regulators during recent months in response to publicity about past problems with the foreclosure process, including robo-signing,” Roddy said. On a month-to-month basis, foreclosure posting activity for May fell 28% from April. Write to Kerri Panchuk.