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July 20, 2009

Foreclosures up in Salem, down a lot in Beverly

By Matthew K. Roy

PEABODY — As foreclosures continue to rise across the country, activity on the North Shore has fluctuated depending upon the community.

As it did last year, Peabody had 30 recorded foreclosures through the first five months of this year. Foreclosures also held steady in Danvers, increasing by just one to 10 during the same span in 2009, according to The Warren Group, an organization that tracks the performance of New England's real estate market.

Foreclosures fell by more than 50 percent to eight in Beverly. Salem, meanwhile, saw a 30 percent increase, jumping from 27 last year to 35 in 2009.

"(Foreclosures) haven't gone away," Warren Group CEO Tim Warren said.

The statewide picture appears rosier than what has been happening on the North Shore. Foreclosures in Massachusetts fell by nearly 60 percent this May compared to last May. The number of foreclosure deeds recorded (582) in May, the last month for which the Warren Group has data, was the lowest since April 2007. Year-to-date foreclosure deeds fell 26.3 percent to 4,110 from 5,576.

Nationwide, however, the number of households on the verge of losing their homes increased by nearly 15 percent in the first half of the year.

Foreclosure filings rose more than 33 percent in June compared with the same month last year and were up nearly 5 percent from May, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing service. The increases offered evidence that the Obama administration's plan to encourage the lending industry to prevent foreclosures by handing out $50 billion in subsidies has yet to put a dent in the problem.

But banks and lenders are taking some steps to mitigate the crisis locally because foreclosures have not been flooding the real estate market, said Julianna Tache of Tache Real Estate in Peabody. The volume of properties for sale has been kept down as a result, creating a favorable environment for sellers, Tache said.

The demand for properties, coupled with incentives such as low interest rates and tax credits for first-time buyers, has recently generated multiple bids on homes that would have previously sat on the market for months without an offer, Tache said.

She is optimistic about the market, but conscious of the unpredictability of the current economy.

"If anybody can tell you they know how the market is going to pan out, they're lying," Tache said, quoting an expert she heard at a recent real estate conference.

A harbinger of continued trouble is the rising unemployment rate.

In Massachusetts, it increased to 8.6 percent in June.

"I have to think," Warren said, "that the problems people are having paying their mortgages aren't going away."

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Foreclosures up in Salem, down a lot in Beverly
by By Matthew K. Roy , , Mon Jul 20, 2009, 05:00 AM EDT
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