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The Bay State saw an increase in foreclosure petitions once again, up 45.6 percent compared with February 2015, according to a new report from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
This marks the 24th consecutive month of year-over-year increases in petition starts and is the highest number of petitions reported in February since 2012.
This year, lenders filed 1,264 petitions to foreclose in comparison with the 868 filed last February. Year-to-date, there have been 2,188 petitions filed in the state, a 47.2 percent increase from last year’s mark through February of 1,486. Petitions note the first step in the foreclosure process, when lenders file notice of their intention to foreclose with the Commonwealth’s Land Court.
“While there’s no doubt some new delinquencies are occurring, the majority of what we’re seeing as ‘new’ foreclosures are loans that have been delinquent for quite some time,” Timothy Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, said in a statement. “Lenders continue to work through what remains of their backlog from several years ago, when the entire industry ground to a halt to await the outcome of legislative and regulatory changes and updates.”
There were 644 auction notices filed in February, an 8.8 percent increase from the 592 filed in February 2015. The state has seen 1,389 auctions year-to-date, a 19.2 percent increase from the same period in 2015 when there were 1,167. The auction notice acts as an alert to the Land Court that the lender has scheduled an auction and publically announced the time, date and address in legal notices in local newspapers.
In February, there were 519 foreclosure deeds filed, marking a 66.9 percent increase from the 311 deeds in February 2015. There have been a total of 867 deeds recorded in Massachusetts in 2016, a 52.6 percent increase from the 568 filed through February 2015. The deeds represent completed foreclosures, indicating there has been a change of ownership in the foreclosed property.
For more up-to-date petition filings, auctions and completed foreclosures, visit the Banker & Tradesman website.
