Lowell Deeds

2008 is half over, so I compared our recording activity during the past six months with the first six months of 2007. For the entire ten town district, here’s what I found:

Deeds in 2007 - 3346; in 2008 - 2630, a 21% decline
Mortgages in 2007 - 8619; in 2008 - 6500, a 25% decline
Foreclosures in 2007 - 186; in 2008 - 328, a 76% increase

Here are the same statistics just for Lowell:

Deeds in 2007 - 1095; in 2008 - 825, a 25% decline
Mortgages in 2007 - 2443; in 2008 - 1465, a 40% decline
Foreclosures in 2007 - 112; in 2008 - 203, a 81% increase

While the decline in the number of deeds recorded in Lowell is consistant with the rest of the district, the drop in new mortgages is much more pronounced. This could indicate that people living in the city are finding it more difficult to refinance or to obtain financing in the first place.