Foreclosure filings drop for 2d month

The number of new foreclosure proceedings filed against Massachusetts homeowners dropped for the second straight month in April, according to a report issued yesterday.

Lenders and mortgage holders initiated 2,002 foreclosure proceedings last month, 9 percent fewer than the 2,190 filings in March, said ForeclosuresMass.com, which collects the data. February had 2,227 filings, the highest monthly total in many years.

The decline, however, does not necessarily mean the problems facing overextended homeowners are ebbing.

"Our forecasts indicate that foreclosures will continue to have a negative impact on the Massachusetts real estate market throughout 2007," said Jeremy Shapiro, ForeclosuresMass.com president.

Moreover, his firm's analysis suggests that the threat of foreclosure isn't confined to poor communities.

Wealthy communities such as Boxborough, Lincoln, and Dover saw the largest percentage increases in foreclosure filings over the past 12 months, though those jumps can come from a small base, the analysis showed.

"Virtually every community in Massachusetts is being impacted by the foreclosure crisis," Shapiro said in his statement.

State regulators have blamed subprime mortgage loans, which are generally marketed to home buyers with poor credit, for the rise in mortgage filings ; subprime loans often start out with a low interest rate, then adjust to a higher interest rate, making the monthly payment unaffordable to the home owner.

A foreclosure filing is an early step in the process, and a filing doesn't always result in foreclosure. Home owners can try to renegotiate the loan or sell the house to pay it off, but a sluggish market has made those options more difficult.

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.