Foreclosures and condominiums

The computer system here at the registry gives us a limited ability to identify and track condominium units. (Usually, we can't tell what is built upon a property). I recently looked at the rate of foreclosures for condominiums and compared it to foreclosures of non-condos. Here is what I found:

In Lowell from January 1, 2010 to September 30, 2010, there were 286 foreclosure deeds recorded. Of those, 82 involved condominiums. That means that 29% of foreclosures for Lowell were for condos. Comparing the same period of 2009 with the first nine months of 2010, we find that there were 178 Lowell foreclosures of which 65 (37%) were condominiums. The overall rate of foreclosures for 2010 represented at 61% increase over those in 2009. The rate of condominium foreclosures, however, represented only a 26% increase from 2009 to 2010. So as a percentage of overall foreclosures, the number of condos is going down.

In the nine towns in the Middlesex North District, there were 232 foreclosure deeds recorded between January 1, 2010 and September 30, 2010. This was an increase of 125% over the number recorded during the first nine months of 2009. The number of condominiums being foreclosed in the towns went up substantially: from 19 in 2009 to 52 in 2010, a jump of 174%. In the towns for 2010, condominiums represented 22% of all foreclosures.