Oct. foreclosures in Mass. jump from Sept.

Foreclosures in Massachusetts rose nearly 30 percent in October from the previous month, but petitions to foreclose, the first step in the state's foreclosure process, were 9 percent below September's total, the Warren Group said.

On a year-to-year basis, there were 911 foreclosures in October, down 8.5 percent from the number of foreclosures in October 2008, said the Warren Group, a Boston firm that tracks real estate activity and publishes Banker & Tradesman.

The number of petitions to foreclose in October 2009 was 2,296, up 11 percent from a year earlier.

"The number of foreclosures in October was actually the third highest so far this year," Timothy M. Warren Jr., chief executive of the Warren Group, "But the pace of foreclosures is still lower than it was last spring and summer when there was an average of nearly 1,200 foreclosures a month. Still, a key concern is the level of petitions to foreclose, which indicate how many distressed property owners are at risk of foreclosure in Massachusetts. Lenders have filed an average of over 2,500 foreclosure petitions a month since May."

The Warren Group noted in its press release that "several factors have helped temper foreclosure activity, including federal efforts to offer loan modifications to troubled borrowers and a Massachusetts Land Court decision which has forced some lenders to hold back on foreclosure proceedings until proper mortgage assignments have been made. In addition, a state law that went into effect in the middle of last year slowed the rate of foreclosure petition filings because it requires lenders to give delinquent borrowers 90 days to catch up with missed payments before starting a foreclosure proceeding." (Globe Staff)