Mass. foreclosure petitions jump 68% in March

FORECLOSURE PETITIONS in the Bay State jumped 68 percent year over year in March, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. / COURTESY THE WARREN GROUP
FORECLOSURE PETITIONS in the Bay State jumped 68 percent year over year in March, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. / COURTESY THE WARREN GROUP

BOSTON – Foreclosure petitions in the Bay State jumped 68 percent year over year in March, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
This marked the 13th consecutive month of increases in petition filings – petitions represent the first step in the foreclosure process.

Lenders filed 1,108 petitions to foreclose in March compared with 660 filings last year.
March also marked the highest number of petitions filed since October 2012 when 1,458 petitions were recorded. A total of 2,594 petitions were filed in the first quarter compared with 1,463 petitions filed during the year-ago period, a 77 percent increase.

“We continue to see rises in every facet of the foreclosure process,” Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, said in a statement. “It is frustrating to see the increases month after month however it continues to be the result of a large volume of backlog on the part of lenders who continue to track down delinquent mortgages.”

Statewide, foreclosure deeds reported a 51 percent increase in March with 359 deeds filed compared with 238 filings in March 2014. The month’s filings were the highest of the year so far. A total of 927 deeds were filed in the first quarter of this year, a 3 percent decrease from the 956 deeds filed in the first quarter of last year. Deeds represent completed foreclosures.

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Bristol County saw a 58 percent increase in foreclosure petitions to 114 in March, and a 48 percent increase in foreclosure deeds to 37, according to The Warren Group.

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