Completed foreclosures in Plymouth fell more than 14 percent last year over the same period in 2011, according to data from the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds, following a statewide trend foreclosures of a 13 percent decrease

Plymouth is ahead of the curve according to Register of Deeds John Buckley, who issues monthly reports on real estate transactions in Plymouth County. In 2011, Plymouth County recorded 985 foreclosure deeds. That number fell 8 pecent in 2012, to 909. In the town of Plymouth, the number of forecloser deeds fell from 132 in 2011 to 113 in 2012, a 14.39 percent decrease.

"We remain concerned about foreclosure activity, particularly with a 5 percent increase in the number of notices initiating new foreclosures being recorded this year,” Buckley explained in the Dec. 2012 report. 

Foreclosure petitions, the first step in the state’s foreclosure process, spiked more than 22 percent in Plymouth, more than four times higher than all of Plymouth County.

Plymouth follows the state trend more closely than the rest of the county, according to a Boston Herald article.

Foreclosure petitions...spiked more than 35 percent to 17,152 in 2012 from 12,634 the year before. Throughout much of 2011, petition levels were dramatically decreased as lenders slowed foreclosure processes, said The Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr.

“Foreclosure activity nationwide is declining, and Massachusetts is following the same path,” he said. “Deeds were down for the year, petitions declined for the past two months and I think that will continue.”

In December, there was one foreclosure deed filed in Plymouth, a 93 percent decrease from the 15 deeds recorded in December 2011.

Here's a chart, detailing the number of foreclosures in 2012 by month, compared to the previous year.