Foreclosure deeds drop 14.6% in Mass. in February

FORECLOSURE DEEDS in the Bay State declined 14.6 percent in February compared with the year-ago period, marking the second consecutive month of decreases, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. / COURTESY THE WARREN GROUP
FORECLOSURE DEEDS in the Bay State declined 14.6 percent in February compared with the year-ago period, marking the second consecutive month of decreases, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. / COURTESY THE WARREN GROUP

BOSTON – Foreclosure deeds in the Bay State declined 14.6 percent in February compared with the year-ago period, marking the second consecutive month of decreases, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
Deeds, or completed foreclosures, mark the final step in the foreclosure process.
There were 311 foreclosure deeds recorded in February, compared with 364 in February 2014.
This was the lowest number of deeds for the month of February since 2006, when there were 164 completed foreclosures, the group said. Year-to-date, deeds dropped 21 percent to 568 deeds filed compared with 718 during the same period last year.

Foreclosure petition activity in the Bay State increased 98 percent in February.
Lenders filed a total of 868 foreclosure petitions – the first step in the foreclosure process – in February, compared with 439 a year ago. Year-to-date, petitions rose 85 percent to 1,486 petitions filed compared with 803 during the same time period last year.

“Deeds fell for the second time this year despite petitions and auctions continuing to rise,” Cassidy Murphy, editorial director of The Warren Group, said in a statement. “It is important to note that despite the large increases in petitions and auctions, the volume of transactions for each is minimal compared to what they were in 2007 at the height of the foreclosure crisis.”
In Bristol County, foreclosure petitions rose 84 percent in February, to 92 from 50 during the prior year period. Foreclosure deeds in February dropped nearly 17 percent, however, to 40 from 48 the year before.

The number of auction announcements tracked by The Warren Group jumped 242 percent statewide in February, with 592 announcements compared with 173 in February 2014.

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