Foreclosure Starts Jump 118 percent in December; 2015 Saw 55 Percent More Starts Overall

Auctions rose 25.2 percent; deeds rose 21.4 percent in 2015

BOSTON, February 2, 2016 – Lenders filed 1,224 foreclosure petitions to the Massachusetts Land Court in December, a 118.2 percent increase from the 561 petitions filed in December 2014, according to a new report from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

December was the 22^nd consecutive month of double-digit year-over-year increases, but the 1,224 petitions still fall far short of the numbers Massachusetts saw during the foreclosure crisis last decade. For example, there were 2,724 foreclosure petitions filed in December 2007.

Overall in 2015 there were 11,767 petitions filed, a 55.1% increase from the 7,588 filed in 2014. Petitions are the first entry in the public record in the foreclosure process, when lenders file a notice of intention to foreclose with the Land Court.

“Lenders are pushing more foreclosures through the system now that they’re both comfortable with the state’s regulations and feel they may be able to resell these properties at a good price,” said Timothy Warren, Jr., CEO of The Warren Group. “We are not yet concerned that we’re approaching another crisis; the indications are many of these are old delinquencies that the banks delayed acting on, not a new glut of bad loans.”

There were 563 auction notices filed in December, an 11.7 percent increase from the 504 filed in December 2014. There were 6,891 foreclosure auction notices in 2015, a 25.2 percent increase from the 5,504 in 2014. An auction notice is an alert to the Land Court that the lender has scheduled an auction and publicly announced the time, date and address in legal notices in local newspapers.

There were 469 foreclosure deeds filed in December 2015, a 46.1 percent increase from the 321 deeds filed in December 2014. There were 4,399 deeds field in 2015 overall, a 21.4 percent increase from the 3,623 field in 2014. These deeds represent completed foreclosures, when lenders record a new at the Registry of Deeds indicating there has been a change in the ownership of the foreclosed property.

The most up-to-date petition filings, auctions and completed foreclosures are available weekly in Banker & Tradesman.

The Warren Group has recorded and tracked real estate transactions since 1872. The fourth-generation family-owned company uses its long-time leadership in Boston real estate and banking information to produce specialized reports and news publications, including Banker & Tradesman and The Commercial Record.

With more than 140 years as a local business leader, The Warren Group has developed relationships with a variety of industry leaders and trade groups, including bankers, mortgage brokers, credit unions and lawyers. Working together with our partners, The Warren Group organizes trade shows and industry events.  For more information about The Warren Group, visit www.thewarrengroup.com.