Massachusetts petitions to begin the foreclosure process spiked by 118 percent in December, finishing a year that saw finalized foreclosures rise by 21 percent.
The Warren Group, which announced the latest figures on Tuesday, said that lenders have begun pushing foreclosures through the system because they are both more comfortable with new regulations and are also seeing the ability to resell properties at a good price. This contributed to a year-over-year leap in foreclosure petitions of 118 percent in December, up to 1,224. However, Timothy Warren, Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, cautioned that this is still much lower than the numbers Massachusetts saw at the height of the foreclosure crisis.
“We are not yet concerned that we’re approaching another crisis; the indications are many of these are old delinquencies that the banks delayed acting on, not a new glut of bad loans,” he said in a statement.
Finalized foreclosures were also up in December by over 46 percent. Finalized foreclosures increased for 2015 overall as well, according to the group, up 21.4 percent to 4,399 deeds.
