Foreclosures in metro drop in August

IN THE PROVIDENCE-FALL RIVER-NEW BEDFORD area, lenders initiated 31 percent fewer foreclosures in August than they did for the same period in 2011. / COURTESY REALTYTRAC
IN THE PROVIDENCE-FALL RIVER-NEW BEDFORD area, lenders initiated 31 percent fewer foreclosures in August than they did for the same period in 2011. / COURTESY REALTYTRAC

PROVIDENCE – Lenders initiated 31 percent fewer foreclosures on Providence metropolitan-area homes during August than they did during the same period last year, RealtyTrac said Thursday.

Bank repossessions fell even further, 38 percent, in what was the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year declines in foreclosure filings for the area.

There were 290 foreclosure starts in the Providence metro area in August, down from 419 starts in August 2011. The 240 completed repossessions declined from 387 last August.

Although the foreclosure declines were led by Rhode Island, which saw a 45 percent drop in combined year-over-year filings (initiations and repossessions,) filings also dropped 11 percent in Bristol County, Mass.

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Statewide, Massachusetts saw total filings, which includes default notices as well as foreclosure sales and REOs, decline 40 percent year over year. This marks a change from earlier in the year when Massachusetts filings, including those in Bristol County, rose while Rhode Island’s fell.

In Rhode Island, there were 181 foreclosure starts and 118 repossessions in August, compared with 237 starts and 309 repossessions last August.

Nationally, total foreclosure filings fell 15 percent in August compared with the same period in August 2011.

“Foreclosure activity in most non-judicial states stayed on a downward trajectory in August, with a few exceptions,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.

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