Warren Group: Foreclosure starts spike in Bristol County, Mass.

FORECLOSURE STARTS in Bristol County and in Massachusetts statewide increased year-over-year for the month of March, but completed foreclosures declined. Above, a chart illustrating foreclosure petitions and deeds (representing completed foreclosures) in Massachusetts since January 2013. / COURTESY THE WARREN GROUP
FORECLOSURE STARTS in Bristol County and in Massachusetts statewide increased year-over-year for the month of March, but completed foreclosures declined. Above, a chart illustrating foreclosure petitions and deeds (representing completed foreclosures) in Massachusetts since January 2013. / COURTESY THE WARREN GROUP

BOSTON – Bristol County, Mass., foreclosure starts climbed 94.6 percent in March compared with the same period last year, The Warren Group said Thursday.

Lenders filed 72 new petitions to begin foreclosure proceedings in March, the Boston-based real estate tracking firm reported, compared with 37 petitions in March 2013.

Despite the increase in petitions, however, the number of completed foreclosures in Bristol County fell 24 percent in March compared with a year earlier, dropping to 19 completed foreclosures from 25 foreclosures.

The steep increase in monthly foreclosure starts in Bristol County reflected a statewide trend for March. In Massachusetts, foreclosure starts climbed 133.2 percent year over year, from 283 to 660. The 194 completed Massachusetts foreclosures in March, however, represented a 15.3 percent decline from the 229 foreclosures in March 2013.

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Year over year for the first four months of 2014, statewide foreclosure starts dropped 29.4 percent to 1,463 from 2,073. During the same period, the number of completed foreclosures in the Bay State fell 1.2 percent to 754 from 763.

“With much of the foreclosure crisis behind us and foreclosure procedures well documented, lenders may be getting more aggressive with delinquent borrowers,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group. “The number of foreclosure starts in March may seem as though the floodgates were opened, but the number is nowhere near the levels reported during the recession.”

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