Bristol County foreclosure petitions up

BOSTON – Foreclosure deeds filed in Bristol County, Mass., last month were down 47.11 percent from the same 2008 month. However, foreclosure petitions were up, jumping 497.1 percent from a year ago.
In May, 64 foreclosure deeds were filed, down from 121 in May 2008. Petitions were up from 34 to 203 year over year.
The Bristol County data, released last week by The Warren Group, a Boston-based real estate tracker, mirrored statewide foreclosure trends. The Bay State’s foreclosure deeds filed fell 58.6 percent in May, dropping to 582 from 1,405. But foreclosure petitions, the first step toward a foreclosure, were up 497.2 percent, from 390 to 2,329.
In a statement, CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. said that large number of foreclosure petition filings was caused by the 90-day foreclosure warning law instituted last May. That law caused May 2008’s petitions to be “artificially depressed,” he said.
Warren also noted that the number of recorded foreclosure deeds was the lowest it had been since April 2007. He added that it was “encouraging” that foreclosures declined in two consecutive months.
“I think lenders have realized how costly foreclosures can be and are taking steps to avoid foreclosure whenever possible,” Warren said. “But I remain concerned because unemployment has crept up and many people who’ve lost their jobs will have trouble keeping up with mortgage payments. In addition, it also looks like the pace of initiated foreclosures has remained fairly steady over the last four months. Lenders have started more than 2,000 foreclosures a month since February.”
The Warren Group Inc. is a provider of New England real estate data and the publisher of Banker & Tradesman and other journals. Additional information is available at TheWarrenGroup.com.