BOSTON – Lenders in Massachusetts initiated a near-record high number of foreclosures during the first half of the year, The Warren Group reported today.
The group said lenders filed 16,635 petitions – the first step in the foreclosure process – in Massachusetts Land Court during the first six months of 2009. That represents a 22.5 percent increase from the same time last year, when petitions numbered 13,578.
“While petitions to foreclose don’t always result in actual foreclosures, this number indicates that a significant number of homeowners and properties are in distress,” Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, said in a statement.
“Foreclosure petition activity has increased considerably this year after a temporary lull in the middle of last year when the state’s right-to-cure law went into effect,” he continued. “The law gives borrowers 90 days to catch up on missed mortgage payments. This means that despite intensive efforts to prevent foreclosures, strapped homeowners are still encountering problems paying their mortgages.”
The number of actual foreclosures as recorded by foreclosure deeds is also on the rise. The Warren Group reported 679 deeds were filed in July, an 8.8 percent increase from the 624 filed in June.
Still, the first six months of the year saw fewer foreclosure deeds than the same period last year. A total of 5,419 foreclosure deeds were recorded from January through July, which is a 30.6 percent drop from 7,806 during the same period in 2008.
“It takes an average of about a year from when a foreclosure petition is filed to when a property is actually foreclosed on,” Warren said. “So part of the reason we’re seeing fewer foreclosures this year is because there was a drop-off in the number of foreclosures initiated by lenders in 2008 because of the right-to-cure law.”
The Warren Group tracked more auction notices during the month of July. Auction notices rose 33 percent to 1,940 from 1,459 in July 2008 and were also 25 percent greater than the 1,552 auction notices in the prior month. A total of 9,320 auction announcements have been tracked by The Warren Group so far this year, a decline of 22.6 percent from 12,039 a year ago.
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.
