New Malden foreclosure figures flat in February
Foreclosures in Malden were flat in February when compared to the same month the year before, according to new data released by the Warren Group, which tracks housing data statewide.
Lenders filed nine new petitions to foreclose on Malden homeowners, the same number filed in February of last year.
Only one foreclosed property was auctioned in the month, down from four in February 2011.
Foreclosure deeds, however, more than doubled in Malden, from eight last year to 17 this February. The deed process marks a completed foreclosure.
For town-by-town numbers, click here.
Statewide, foreclosure activity has picked back up after legal questions last year slowed lenders' ability to expedite the process, coupled with a new law giving homeowners more time to make back payments on the mortgage.
In Massachusetts, 1,394 petitions for foreclosure were filed in February, up from 694 in the same period last year.
"The large year-over-year increase doesn't necessarily indicate another wave of foreclosures," said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group. "Foreclosure activity was nearly frozen a year ago and now they're beginning to thaw again."
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