Comment on Maine sees another year of declining foreclosures

AUGUSTA — Maine’s financial institutions say foreclosures are declining for the sixth year in a row. Bureau of Financial Institutions’ Superintendent Lloyd LaFountain said Maine’s 31 financial institutions have remained below the 2008 level for several years. Maine financial institutions saw a notable increase in foreclosure filings in 2008 at the beginning of a national housing downturn and recession. Foreclosures peaked at 0.73 percent of first-lien mortgages in 2011. Delinquencies are at their lowest level in the past nine years. Maine’s 31 state-chartered banks and credit unions held 74,000 first-lien mortgages at the end of 2017.