FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Editorial Contact:
Katie Curnutte
The Warren Group
(617) 896-5370
Mass. Foreclosures Recorded in Jan. Highest in Five Months;
High Number of December Petitions
Signals More Foreclosures in the Works,
According to The Warren Group
January Foreclosure Deeds More Than Double in 2008
BOSTON, Feb. 21, 2008– Nearly 800 foreclosures were recorded in January, the highest number of BayState homes lost during a single month since August 2007. Petitions to foreclose – the first step in the foreclosure process – increased in December, signaling that Massachusetts’ problems with foreclosures are far from over, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
“It might have seemed like 2007 was one of the worst years for foreclosures in Massachusetts, but the rising number of petitions to foreclose suggest that 2008 – at least until midyear – won’t be much better,” said Timothy Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group.
Lenders filed 2,729 petitions to foreclose in December, up 28 percent from the 2,133 filed during the previous December. The December 2007 number is up slightly from the 2,723 petitions filed during November 2007.
Petitions to foreclose do not always end in actual foreclosure. Some homeowners eventually sell their homes, refinance or otherwise find a way to halt the foreclosure. Announcements are placed in newspapers to advertise a scheduled auction, but are not a final count of actual foreclosure auctions. Some homeowners sell their homes before the auction happens.
Auction announcements in January reached their highest number since The Warren Group began tracking them in 2005. There were 1,792 announcements in January 2008, up 77.8 percent from the 1,008 in January 2007.
There were 799 foreclosure deeds in January 2008, up 128.3 percent from the 350 deeds in January 2007. January 2008 also marks the highest number of deeds during any month since August 2007, when there were 1,018.
“Massachusetts’ problems with foreclosures are far from over,” Warren said. “It usually takes at least three months after a petition is filed before a foreclosure is completed. Plenty of homes that enter the process never make it all the way through, but with such a high number of petitions in December, we can be relatively sure these problems will persist at least until the summer.”
Massachusetts Petitions to Foreclose
And Foreclosure Deeds
2007
Data for every city and town in the state is available by request.
About The Warren Group
The Warren Group, based in Boston, is the publisher of Banker & Tradesman, The Commercial Record and a series of association publications. As the premier provider of real estate data in New England, The Warren Group offers a range of real estate products and services for professionals and consumers searching for real estate and financial information. For more information about The Warren Group, please visit www.thewarrengroup.com or call 617-428-5100.