Foreclosure deeds spiked in May
Massachusetts foreclosure deeds spiked 107.5 percent to a record 1,405 filings in May, according to real estate research firm the Warren Group.
Foreclosure deeds, the final administrative step before a foreclosure, rose from 677 in May 2007 to 1,405 last month. Deeds in May also rose 5.3 percent for the month, increasing from 1,334 in April. Such filings rose 139.6 percent to 5,576 during the five months ended May 31, compared to 2,327 in last year’s corresponding period.
There were 390 foreclosure petitions in May, down 81.9 percent from the 2,158 filed in the year-ago period. May’s total was also down 88.3 percent from the 3,327 filed in April, according to the Warren Group, which publishes the Banker & Tradesman.
Still, foreclosure petitions filed during the first five months of the year were up 20.2 percent, rising from 10,591 in 2007 to 12,726 this year.
“May petitions to foreclose were down to one-tenth of what they were in April, but that was surely a temporary decline,” said Timothy Warren Jr., chief executive officer of The Warren Group, in a statement. “Foreclosure deeds continued to rise to levels we haven’t seen since we started to record them in 2005, signaling that this problem is far from over.”
Auction announcements for foreclosed properties totaled 1,986 in May, a 33.9 percent year-over-year increase. For the first five months of the year, auction announcements were up 43.5 percent, jumping from 6,212 to 8,914 during the same span last year
