Mass. foreclosures up 140% in a year

Multifamily homes in urban areas have been hit hardest

Almost 1,200 Massachusetts properties were seized by mortgage companies in March, an increase of more than 140 percent from the number of foreclosures in March 2007, according to data from Warren Group.

Foreclosures during the first three months of the year topped 2,800, also up about 140 percent over the same period last year. Massachusetts is on pace to shatter the previous record for the most foreclosures in a year, set in 1992.

The foreclosed properties disproportionately are multifamily homes in urban areas such as Lawrence, Dorchester, and Brockton. Many sit vacant and deteriorating. They are eyesores, havens for criminal activity, and a drag on neighborhood property values.

In Lawrence, at the current pace, 4 percent of the city's residential properties will be seized by lenders this year.

"It's Katrina without the water," said Nadine Cohen of Greater Boston Legal Services, referring to the hurricane that devastated New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast in 2005.

Warren Group reported that mortgage companies seized 1,167 Massachusetts properties in March, compared with 486 properties during the same month last year. The total surpassed the most recent high-water mark, set last August, when 1,018 properties were foreclosed.

There are indications that worse is yet to come: The number of petitions to foreclose, an indicator of future foreclosures, climbed by 33 percent to 2,918 in March, compared with 2,189 filed in March 2007.

"Massachusetts' foreclosure problems continue to worsen," said Timothy Warren Jr., chief executive of Warren Group. "With steady increases in petitions, I don't see this problem going away anytime soon."

The problem continues to plague some communities more than others. Ninety-five Massachusetts cities and towns have yet to record a foreclosure this year. Brookline is the largest town on that list, followed by Lexington. By contrast, the cities hit hardest, including Lawrence and Brockton, are amassing foreclosures twice as fast as last year.

Boston remains relatively unscathed. The city leads the state in the number of foreclosures, but it ranks well down the density list. At the current pace, about 1 percent of the city's residential properties will be foreclosed this year.

The city's foreclosures are concentrated in Dorchester, where more homes have been seized than in the rest of the city's neighborhoods combined.

If Dorchester were a separate city, it would lead the state in foreclosures.

Binyamin Appelbaum can be reached at bappelbaum@globe.com.