The Boston Herald reports from Massachusetts. "The number of foreclosures in Boston is escalating dramatically in the new year as scores of the high-interest-rate subprime mortgages go bust. As of the end of February, lenders had filed 301 notices to foreclose against homes and condos in Boston, reports Dorchester housing researcher John Anderson."

"That’s up from 86 during the same period last year, according to Anderson. If the current pace continues, Boston could wind up with 2,500 to 3,000 foreclosure filings by the end of the year, Anderson estimates. That’s compared to the 1,100 foreclosure filings in Boston last year, the worst in the 10 years he has been tracking these numbers."

"The trend, though, is not a new one, with foreclosures in the city having begun to rise as far back as 2005, Anderson says. 'It’s overwhelming,' Anderson said. 'Everybody who is all of a sudden concerned; they are two years behind.'"

"The nation’s subprime lending industry is now in full 'meltdown' and its woes are far from over, experts warned yesterday. 'It’s a total meltdown,' said Ernest Napier, an analyst with Standard & Poor’s. 'Everyone had anticipated that the music would stop (on these type of high-risk mortgages). Well, it has.'"

"'I think we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg,' said Lee Forker, president of Boston’s New England Research and Management. 'This is serious stuff. . . . It’s not time to be putting your head in the sand.'"

"Gerard Cassidy, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, agreed the situation is serious, especially since subprime lending accounted for about 22 percent, or more than $550 billion, of the entire $2.5 trillion mortgage industry in 2006."

From Reuters. "In Massachusetts, where housing prices notched double-digit growth between 1995 and 2004 in a red-hot market, foreclosure filings surged 70 percent to 19,487 homeowners last year, as single-family home prices fell for the time since 1993."

"The pace continued in January when the number of homeowners threatened with foreclosure more than doubled in a year to a record -- the most for any state in the U.S. Northeast and exceeding the larger New York property market."

"'Our latest data indicates that 2007 may be even worse,' said Jeremy Shapiro, president of ForeclosuresMass."

"'As the sellers finally get their head around the idea that they may be taking losses, they are listening more to the brokers,' said Marc Charney, president of CharneyRealEstate. 'There's a real pattern that you're seeing with people who are foreclosed. They over-leverage themselves by getting an interest only-loan or some sort of an adjustable rate mortgage. They take that money and plan an addition on the house.'"

"'They start the addition but then realize they want to buy a car, or a sister needs money or something like that. So the work is half done. But you're out of money and lose your job, or you get divorced and can't make payments,' he said."

The Boston Globe. "The Patrick administration's chief housing official yesterday called for better regulation of mortgage brokers and the establishment of a $5 million fund to assist the escalating number of Massachusetts homeowners facing the loss of their homes through foreclosure."

"The majority of the record foreclosure filings in 2006 against Massachusetts homeowners, 19,487, were subprime loans to borrowers with poor credit ratings. 'This is a serious problem and requires our immediate attention,' Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, Daniel O'Connell said."

"The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found in a new study that adjustable-rate, subprime loans accounted for more than half of 2006 foreclosure filings in state Land Court, though they are only 7 percent of all loans outstanding."

"While subprime mortgages grew to a $640 billion business last year, regulation of mortgage companies that make them has been patchwork and weak, in contrast to the heavily regulated banks. Housing advocate Bruce Marks, chief executive of a national, nonprofit lender to working people, said regulators were 'asleep at the switch' during the housing boom."

"O'Connell said he would count on commercial banks to help with the state's rescue effort, but Kevin Kiley, executive vice president of the Massachusetts Bankers Association, said out-of-state mortgage-banking companies that made these loans should be tapped."

"Loans now in foreclosure 'never should've been originated or funded,' Kiley said. 'Why should it be the responsibility of a bank to step in and fund that loan?'"