Foreclosures up in February

Tomorrow (March 1) I'll post the complete comparative statistics for February 2012, but because of early indications that foreclosures were on the rise, I decided to take an early look at Orders of Notice recorded this month.  There were 76 of them which is a 43% increase from the 53 recorded in February 2011 and a 65% increase from the 46 recorded last month (January 2012).  The percentage of the Orders of Notice for properties in Lowell is also up slightly, rising from 36% of the total in February 2011 to 47% of the total this February.  The breakdown by community is as follows, with the number in that community from Feb 2011 shown in parenthesis following this February's number:

Billerica - 4 - (13)
Chelmsford - 10 - (3)
Dracut - 11 - (9)
Dunstable - 1 - (0)
Lowell - 36 - (19)
Tewksbury - 8 - (6)
Tyngsborough - 2 - (2)
Wilmington - 4 - (1)

I'm not sure what's causing the rise in Order of Notice.  I'll try to dig into the particulars of each one as time permits to look for any patterns.  For now, please check back tomorrow to see the end of month stats for February.