MA Foreclosure Petitions Up

Massachusetts's continuing housing slump is being cited as a factor in skyrocketing foreclosure petitions.

A real estate tracking group says the number of petitions to foreclose on homeowners jumped 70% last year.

The Warren Group reports that mortgage lenders filed nearly 19,000 foreclosure petitions in the state's land court in 2006, compared to some 11,000 the year before.

The petitions are just the first step in the process and don't always result in actual foreclosure.