Mass. foreclosures skyrocket to record high – report

BOSTON – Foreclosure petitions in Massachusetts surged to a record high in August, the most recent month for which Mass. Land Court data is available, The Warren Group reported last week.
Although foreclosure deeds fell in September and auction announcements were steady, “the sharp rise in petitions – the first step in the foreclosure process – indicates the state’s problems with rising foreclosures are not finished,” the report said.
The Land Court received 3,115 petitions to foreclose in August, the highest number since at least 2005, The Warren Group said. That represented a 75.5-percent increase from August 2006 and a 25.3-percent increase from the previous record of 2,486 petitions filed in July.
The number of foreclosure auction announcements across the Bay State in September was 1,214, 1.9 percent fewer than August’s 1,191 but 57.3 percent more than the 599 auction announcements in September 2006.
The number of foreclosure deeds in September was 673, 66.1 percent fewer than August’s 1,191 but 143.8 percent more than the year-ago total of 276.