Mass. foreclosures leap over 17%

The Warren Group Foreclosures for the year were up 58 percent in Worcester when compared to the previous year.

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By Sam Bonacci

The number of foreclosure starts leaped forward in October with a 17.6 percent year-over-year increase, according to a release by The Warren Group.

It was the 20th consecutive month of year-over-year, double-digit increases in petitions filings. Year to date, there have been 9,633 petitions filed, a 50.9-percent increase over the 6,384 filed in the first 10 months of 2014, according to the group. Petitions are the first step in the foreclosure process, when lenders file a notice of intention to foreclose in Land Court.

While all counties have seen a significant uptick in foreclosure starts this year, the western counties have had the greatest growth when comparing the first 10 months of 2014 and 2015. Worcester County recorded a 58-percent increase, leading central and eastern counties with 1,774 foreclosures in 2015.

Though it's been speculated that foreclosure increases this year have been due to a backlog from the banks, these last figures indicate other factors, said Warren Group CEO Timothy Warren.

“It seems likely that the central and western counties are seeing more of an uptick than the eastern counties because of weaker economies in those regions. High-paying jobs are less common and job growth is less robust. Lower home prices reflect that and probably the greater increase in foreclosure activity does too,” he said. “The economic recovery is coming a little slower to Central and Western Massachusetts.”

Hampshire County had the largest growth in foreclosures of any county in the state, with a 94-percent increase over the previous year. Towns like Belchertown, Northampton and Ware each have had double-digit foreclosures petitions and more than 100-percent growth year-over-year.