Foreclosure petitions, auctions, deeds climb again in April in Mass.

FORECLOSURE STARTS AND completions increased in April in Massachusetts, The Warren Group said Wednesday. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/DANIEL ACKER
FORECLOSURE STARTS AND completions increased in April in Massachusetts, The Warren Group said Wednesday. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/DANIEL ACKER

BOSTON – Foreclosure petitions in Massachusetts climbed 16.6 percent in April compared with April 2015, marking the 26th consecutive month of year-over-year increases, The Warren Group said Wednesday.

Lenders filed 1,117 petitions to foreclose in April compared with 958 filed last April. Year to date, there have been 4,484 petitions filed, a 26.2 percent increase from 3,367 recorded during the prior-year period.
In Bristol County, the number of petitions filed declined 4 percent in April to 107 from 112 a year ago, but year to date, the number has climbed 25 percent to 485 from 387 during the four-month period in 2015.

Petitions note the first step in the foreclosure process, when lenders file notice of their intention to foreclose with the Commonwealth’s Land Court.

“Foreclosure starts might be starting to moderate a bit. At least the rate of growth has slowed from the 55 percent increase that we saw in 2015,” Timothy Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, said in a statement.

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“April’s total of foreclosure starts is modestly lower than we saw in February and March. However, lenders are still processing a backlog so it is unlikely that we will see a dramatic decrease in the number anytime this year.”

There were 752 auction notices filed in April, a 71.3 percent increase from 439 filed in April 2015. And, there have been 2,886 auctions year to date, a 38.5 percent jump from 2,084 during the same four-month period a year ago.

Bristol County’s auctions also climbed 50 percent over the year to 90 from 60, and rose 17 percent year to date to 339 from 290.

An auction notice is a legal advertisement that the lender has scheduled an auction and publicly announced the time, date and address in local newspapers.

In addition, 457 foreclosure deeds were filed in April, a 29.5 percent increase from 353 deeds filed in April 2015. A total of 1,944 deeds were recorded in Massachusetts in 2016, a 51.9 percent increase from the 1,280 filed through April 2015.

Foreclosure deeds in Bristol County increased 56 percent over the year, to 61 from 39, and rose 51 percent year to date, to 205 from 136 a year ago.

These deeds represent completed foreclosures, when lenders record a new deed at the Registry of Deeds indicating there has been a change in the ownership of the foreclosed property.

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