Massachusetts foreclosure activity slowed significantly in January, another positive indicator for the state's housing market, according to data released Tuesday.
During the month (January), 292 homeowners lost their properties to foreclosure, a 63% decrease compared with January 2012 and the lower number since 2006, according to Warren Group, a Boston company that tracks local real estate.
Foreclosure petitions, the first step in the property-seizue process, fell to 940 in January, almost 30% less than during the same month in 2012, Warren Group reported.
The decline comes amid other signs of strength in the Massachusetts housing market, including increased sales and increasing home values.
"The housing market has greatly improved,: said Timothy M. Warren Jr., chief executive of Warren Group.
January's better numbers follow mixed data from last year, skewed because of a national slowdown in foreclosures prompted by scrutiny over so-called robo-signing and other issues involving lenders' loan practices.
The number of completed foreclosures declined almost 13% in 2012, compared with 2011, but the number of foreclosures started increased by more than 35% year-to-year, Warren Group said.
Paul Willen, senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said that he expects foreclosure numbers to continue to go down throughout the year, but not at a rapid rate.
While that's news, he said, the number of foreclosures is still historically high. "This is still a pretty elevated number," Willen said.
The Massachusetts data coincide with national statistics that show the country's foreclosure epidemic is waning.
Across the United States, there were 61,000 foreclosures in January 17.8% fewer than during the same month in 2012, according to the most recent data from CoreLogic, a California company.
"The backlog of distressed assets continues to fade as the foreclosure inventory has fallen to a leven not seen since mid-2009," said CoreLogic's chief economist, Mark Fleming.
"The improvement is wide-spread."
- Jenifer B. McKim of the Boston Globe
US home prices surge in January
US home prices jumped in January, a sign the housing market is gaining momentum as it nears the spring selling season.
Home prices rose 9.7% in January from a year ago, according to data released Tuesday by CoreLogic. That's up from an 8.3% increase in December and the biggest annual gain since April 2006.
Prices rose in all states except Delaware and Illinois. And prices increased in 92 of the 100 largest metro areas, up from 87 in December.
Home prices also rose 0.7 percent in January from December. That's a solid increase given that sales usually slow over the winter months.
Rising demand, combined with fewer available homes, is pushing up prices. Sales of previously owned homes ticked up in January after rising to their highest level in 5 years in 2012, according to the National Association of Realtors. At the same time, inventories of homes for sale fell to a 13-year low.
Nationwide, home values were still down more than 26% from their peak in April 2006 through January, CoreLogic said. But in some states prices have recovered a lot of lost ground.
There have been other recent signs that the housing market is going strong. A measure of the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in January from December to the highest level in more than 2.5 years. That suggests sales of previously occupied homes will keep rising in the coming months.
Steady increases in prices help fuel the housing recovery. They encourage some homeowenrs to sell homes and entice some would-be buyers to purchase homes before prices rise further.
- Associated Press
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