Medford Foreclosures Lower than State Pace in March

Foreclosure petitions on Medford homes dropped in March compared to last year, bucking state trends, which saw a dramatic increase in foreclosures compared to last year, according to recently released real estate data.

There were only three foreclosure petitions filed on Medford homes in March 2012 compared to seven in March last year, according to data from The Warren Group, a Boston-based real estate publisher.

Statewide, a total of 1,621 petitions to foreclose were entered this March, a 54.7 percent increase from the 1,048 in March 2011, according to the data.

A total of 4,348 foreclosure petitions were filed in the first three months of 2012, up 75 percent from the 2,535 in the first quarter of 2011, according to a press release from The Warren Group.

Medford saw 15 foreclosure petitions in the first three months of this year, the same total as last year. Year-to-date foreclosure auctions are up more than 200 percent in Medford, with 13 having already occurred this year, the data said.

A federal lawsuit had tied up many foreclosures in the early months of 2011, which has in part led to the dramatic increases this year, said Timothy Warren, CEO of The Warren Group, in a written statement.

"Banks are stepping up foreclosures all over the country, and Massachusetts is no exception," Warren said in the statement. "Since the suit by state attorneys general over foreclosure abuses has been settled, a cloud has lifted and we may see numbers continue to rise."