Nearly 800 foreclosures were recorded in January, the highest number of Bay State homes lost during a single month since August 2007, the Warren Group said today.

The Warren Group of Boston is a provider of local real estate data and the publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

There were 799 foreclosure deeds in January, up 128.3 percent from the 350 deeds in January 2007, the firm said, and January 2008 also marks the highest number of deeds during any month since August 2007, when there were 1,018.

Auction announcements in January reached their highest number since the Warren Group began tracking them in 2005, the firm said, and there were 1,792 announcements in January 2008, up 77.8 percent from the 1,008 in January 2007.

Petitions to foreclose, the first step in the foreclosure process, also increased in December, signaling that Massachusetts’ problems with foreclosures are far from over, the Warren Group said.

“It might have seemed like 2007 was one of the worst years for foreclosures in Massachusetts, but the rising number of petitions to foreclose suggest that 2008, at least until midyear, won’t be much better,” Timothy Warren Jr., chief executive of the Warren Group, said in a statement.

Lenders filed 2,729 petitions to foreclose in December, up 28 percent from the 2,133 filed during the previous December, said the Warren Group, which added that the December 2007 number is up slightly from the 2,723 petitions filed during November 2007.

Petitions to foreclose do not always end in actual foreclosure because some homeowners eventually sell their homes, refinance or otherwise find a way to halt the foreclosure.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)