Foreclosures still up, especially for multi-family homes

Associated Press

April 01, 2008 06:44 am

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The number of homeowners facing foreclosure in Massachusetts continues to rise, with owners of multi-family homes especially vulnerable.

The Warren Group, a Boston-based publisher of real estate data, said yesterday that foreclosure petitions totaled more than 2,200 statewide in February. That's up 27 percent from the same month a year earlier. Foreclosure petitions are a first step that often leads to owners losing their homes.

Foreclosure deeds, in which the owner loses the home, more than doubled to 860 in February. A disproportionate number of February foreclosure petitions involved two- and three-family homes. The 635 petitions for multifamily homes represented 23 percent of all petitions, but multifamily homes make up 11 percent of the state's housing stock.