A coming surge in foreclosures?

Today's Globe cites a report by the Warren Group that says foreclosure petition filings - the very first step of the foreclosure process which occurs a month or more before anything arrives at the registry of deeds - were up substantially in April when compared to a year ago.  This from the Globe article:

The number of petitions — the first step in the foreclosure process — rose to 1,750 in April, a 47 percent increase from the same month in 2011, and the highest level in nearly two years, Warren Group said. Since January, 6,098 petitions have been filed statewide, a 64 percent increase compared with the first four months of last year. Foreclosure deeds — the last step in the home seizure process — ­also rose last month to 714, 19 percent more than April 2011. Between January and April, 2,968 homeowners lost their properties to foreclosure, a 30.5 percent increase compared with the same period in 2011, Warren Group said.

While this report seems to be counting new filings in Land Court, there has been no sign thus far of an uptick in foreclosure activity.  Quite the opposite.  In April 2012, for instance, we recorded 44 orders of notice and 37 foreclosure deeds compared to the April 2011 numbers of 115 orders of notice and 37 foreclosure deeds.  The May numbers to date show the same trend.  From May 1, 2012 to May 29, 2012, there were 53 orders of notice and 26 foreclosure deeds recorded.  For the same period in 2011 there were 61 orders of notice and 40 foreclosure deeds.

Today's been a busy one at the registry; we expect tomorrow, as the last day of the month, to be even busier.  Check back on Friday for our end of May statistics.