Foreclosures plunge in Providence area in September

By Patrick Anderson
PBN Staff Writer
Twitter: @andersonpbn

PROVIDENCE – Lenders in September completed less than half the number of foreclosures in the Providence-Fall River-New Bedford area as they did during the same period last year and initiated 38 fewer new foreclosures, RealtyTrac said Friday.

The Califronia-based real estate data firm reported 162 repossessions recorded in the metropolitan area in September, a decline of 55 percent from the 358 finished foreclosures in September 2011.

At the same time, there were 213 foreclosure sale notices filed, compared with 346 last September.

Finished foreclosures and new foreclosure starts dropped year over year in both Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts last month.

In Rhode Island, finished foreclosures fell 61 percent last month compared with September 2011 and foreclosure starts dropped 44 percent.

In Bristol County, Mass, year-over-year bank repossessions fell 18 percent while foreclosure initiations dropped 22 percent.

The local ebb in foreclosures tracks the national 16 percent year-over-year drop in foreclosure filings, especially in non-judicial foreclosure states like Rhode Island.

Massachusetts has been a rare example nationally of falling foreclosures in a judicial foreclosure state.