Fewer Bay State properties were foreclosed on in February compared to the prior month and a year earlier, according to a new report from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. But the number of foreclosures initiated by lenders has climbed for four consecutive months.

A total of 823 foreclosure deeds were recorded in February, a 4.3 percent decline from 860 foreclosure deeds in February 2008. February foreclosure deeds were also 16 percent lower than January when there were 980 deeds recorded. Still, foreclosure deeds jumped 8.6 percent during the first two months of 2009 to 1,803 from 1,660 a year earlier.

"While it’s positive that fewer homes were lost to foreclosure in February, the number of foreclosures initiated by lenders month-to-month has been steadily increasing since last November," said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group. "In addition, the pace of foreclosures has remained fairly steady over the last six months, despite the fact that several large lending institutions have introduced temporary moratoriums on foreclosures in recent months."

Lenders filed 2,295 petitions to foreclose in February, a 17 percent jump from 1,960 petitions in January. But foreclosure petitions fell 19.1 percent from the same month in 2008 when 2,838 petitions were filed. Foreclosure petitions are the first step in the foreclosure process. So far this year, 4,255 foreclosure petitions have been filed – a 29.7 percent decline from 6,050 foreclosure petitions during the same months in 2008.

The Warren Group tracked 917 auction announcements in February, down 27 percent from 1,256 in February 2008 and 30.2 percent from 1,313 in January.

"February saw a pronounced slowdown in the number of auction announcements. This is the first time that auction announcements fell below 1,000 since November 2007," Warren said.