BOSTON – For the first time this year, foreclosure petitions and deeds filed in Massachusetts decreased compared with the same month last year, The Warren Group said Thursday.
The real estate tracking firm saw the number of petitions – the first step in the process – and the number of deeds – the last step in the process – both decrease in October compared with a year ago.
The number of petitions dropped 50.9 percent to 1,127 and the number of deeds fell 39.1 percent to 557. However, the number of auction notices increased 26.5 percent to 3,292.
“It’s possible that this decline in foreclosure starts was influenced by the example set by Bank of America when they temporarily suspended foreclosure activity,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group. “Lenders may have waited to file petitions while rechecking their procedures and paperwork. As a result, we are likely to see a decrease over the next few months because of these delays.”
October also marked the first month since January that lenders filed fewer than 2,000 foreclosure deeds, The Warren Group said. However, the number of deeds filed so far this year, 11,334, is a 47 percent increase over the number of deeds filed during the same period in 2009.
“While the decreases in foreclosure volume are welcoming, we should not be fooled into thinking that foreclosure problems are behind us,” Warren added. “Due to job and economic conditions, many homeowners are delinquent on their mortgages and those problems will eventually find their way into foreclosure statistics.”
In Bristol County, Mass., the number of petitions decreased by 47 percent to 105 in October from a year ago. The number of deeds fell 26.4 percent to 67. Auction notices went up 20.4 percent to 336 in October.
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.
