Town Foreclosures in June See Little Change From 2010

Foreclosures in Massachusetts have increased this year, but there was not much increase in North Andover.

The Warren Group -- publisher of Banker & Tradesman -- reported that foreclosure deeds statewide rose 64 percent (from 569 from May to 931 in June), the highest since last August, but the numbers are actually down from last year.

"After months of lenders slowing the foreclosure process, it seems more foreclosures are being pushed through the pipeline," Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. said.

Although June was a particularly rough month for foreclosures -- the highest month this year -- compared with June 2010, foreclosure deeds are down 29 percent.

"The steep decline in yearly foreclosure activity shows there are still a glut of foreclosed properties on banks' books," Warren added. "A housing market recovery won't be complete until these foreclosures work through the system."

Locally, there was not much change from June 2010 to June 2011. Foreclosures increased 25 percent in North Andover, but the actual numbers put that into better context. In June 2010, there were four; in June of this year, there were five.

"I don’t think id really worry about it," local realtor said. "If we see another year of those numbers, I might be a bit ore concerned. We are in good shape, and these numbers are not to be taken as a trend."

Andover seems to have even less to worry about; their year-to-year foreclosures in June decreased 80 percent from five to one.

"The more affluent a town is, the less issue they have in foreclosures," Roy said. "Andover and North Andover, we don’t have squat. But if you go to Lawrence, or the bad parts of Haverhill or Lowell, that makes 60 percent of cheap housing there."

It also depends on which banks hold the mortgages, Roy added.

"The small banks are the ones who are going to jump and foreclose very quickly," he said. "The big banks are so big one hand doesn’t know what the other hand’s doing."