More Massachusetts homeowners faced foreclosure last year, but fewer actually lost their homes

Foreclosures fell in Massachusetts last year

BOSTON — The number of home foreclosures initiated in Massachusetts last year jumped about 28 percent over 2008, but that figure was tempered by the fact that the number of completed foreclosures in 2009 was down more than 25 percent compared with the previous year.

The year-end numbers were released Thursday by The Warren Group, a Boston firm that tracks real estate data.

Chief Executive Timothy Warren Jr. called the figures a good news-bad news situation. He says the bad news is that unemployment and other economic hardships put more people in danger of losing their homes.

The good news was that efforts to modify mortgages and a court decision that forced some lenders to hold back on recording foreclosure deeds slowed foreclosure activity in 2009.