Mid-January recording statistics

It's only January 13, but since the 15th falls on a Sunday, the documents recorded right now are all that we'll have for the first half of the month.  Comparing the first 15 days of January 2012 with the first 15 days of January 2011 unfortunately doesn't present much cause for optimism.  (From here on in this post, when I write "2012" or "2011" I'm referring to the first 15 days of January in each of those years).

The number of deeds recorded dropped 19%, from 169 in 2011 to 137 in 2012;
The number of mortgages recorded dropped 27%, from 609 in 2011 to 446 in 2012;
The number of orders of notice dropped 21%, from 14 in 2011 to 11 in 2012; and
The number of foreclosure deeds rose 80%, from 10 in 2011 to 18 in 2012.

The distribution of those foreclosure deeds is as follows: 9 in Lowell, 3 each in Billerica and Chelmsford, 2 in Westford and 1 in Dracut.  As much as these stats trend negatively, it's just a small sampling so I'd be hesitant to draw any inferences.  Still, this is something that we'll watch closely as the month draws to a close.