Home foreclosures in South Portland are at their highest in nearly a decade and on a pace to more than double in 2008 over last year, city records show.

From January to November this year, there were 24 home foreclosures in South Portland filed in the Cumberland County Registry of Deeds.

By contrast, 12 were filed in 2007, according to city tax records. Between 2001 and 2005, there were between two and five foreclosures recorded per year.

“We’re not an island and we’re experiencing what the rest of the country is. But it is nothing like California or Florida,” said South Portland assessor Elizabeth Sawyer.

Sawyer said there does not seem to be a pattern to the foreclosures, which span the city and all property types.

Of the 24 foreclosed homes, 16 are single family, five are two-family dwellings and three condominiums.

Neighborhoods affected include Meeting House Hill, outer Highland Avenue, Thornton Heights and Pleasantdale. The streets include: Walnut, Reynolds, Main, Smith, Boothby, Pine, Brigham, Broadway, Crestview, Colchester, Minott and Valley.

“Many of the homes were owned by the same people for a very long time,” Sawyer said. “That means their financial trouble was not because they bought their homes for too much money. But they may have overextended the equity in their house or suffered employment loss.”

For example, a home on Meeting House Hill that went into foreclosure was owned for nine years and originally bought for $139,000.

Most of the foreclosed homes have been resold for under $200,000. “The resale value of the homes is not surprising considering the median-price house in South Portland is about $220,000,” Sawyer said.

South Portland real estate agent Joe Flynn said that lenders cannot profit from selling foreclosed homes after a borrower falls behind in payments. “Banks offer the homes at a reduced rate,” he said.

In one instance, a home at 56 Colchester Drive valued by the city at $430,000 was sold in foreclosure for $280,000 this year. The brand-new colonial home is on a half-acre with four bedrooms and 2.5 baths.

Sawyer said she is aware of some homes undergoing “short sales,” when the owner is in distress and cannot meet payments.

Short sales enable the owner to negotiate with the lender to sell the house for substantially less than the balance owed on the property.

The owner and lender may agree to undertake the “short sale” to avoid foreclosure proceedings. The lender may forgive the home owner for the remainder or the borrower may still be on the hook.

“It typically is executed to avoid a foreclosure,” Sawyer said.

She said she has become aware of short sales only when a resident or a real estate agent discloses the information to her. “I really don’t know if there are very many of those. I’ve seen a few.”

Of the 24 foreclosed homes, at least two have yet to resell. A house at 104 Crestview, valued at $500,000, went into foreclosure in May.

Delaying the sale may be the fact that IndyMac Bank of California – the lender that foreclosed on the house – has failed. The bank was seized by federal regulators this summer but remains open and operating.

Although the number of new foreclosure filings is a record in South Portland, it does not compare to mortgage problems in Portland, Maine’s largest city, or in some other states.

Portland and Cumberland County do not track foreclosures, but area real estate brokers say it is common to see about two dozen foreclosed homes on the market at a time.

“I’ve dealt with three (foreclosures) at the most lately in South Portland,” Flynn noted. “In Portland, it’s not unusual to see 20 or 30.”

Pamela E. Lovley, the register of deeds in Cumberland County, said her office “does not have a formal list of foreclosures for Cumberland County,” though it receives notices.

Lenders typically sell foreclosed Maine homes at public auction or through local brokers. When lenders assume ownership of properties because of delinquent payments, the foreclosure notices are recorded with the property deeds.

Lloyd P. LaFountain III, who heads the Maine Department of Financial Institutions, says that foreclosures in Maine remain relatively low.

He said they do not pose a threat to the stability of state-chartered banks and credit unions.

Fueling the mortgage problem are sub-prime adjustable-rate loans, which have caused payments for many borrowers to increase. Texas leads the nation in sub-prime loans.

The Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, D.C., reports that Maine ranks 27th among states in loan delinquencies and 12th in foreclosures started.

The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on residential properties in Maine was 6.21 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2008.

The delinquency rate excludes loans in the process of foreclosure. The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the quarter was 3.19 percent.

On a national level, the seasonally adjusted delinquency rate on residential properties was 6.99 percent in the first quarter. The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the quarter was 2.97 percent.

An estimated 2.5 million homes nationwide will be foreclosed on in 2008, the association projects. The number is up from 1.5 million in 2007.

The Wall Street Journal reports that foreclosure sales actually are boosting home sales in some parts of the nation.