Record-Breaking Year Reportedly Expected For Bucks County Records Office

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Officials said Thursday that the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds office is on pace for a record-breaking year of processing documents — specifically property recordings — amid a sizzling housing market.

The county’s Recorder of Deeds staff worked hard within COVID-19 restrictions to keep the office functioning at a high level.

On Thursday, at least 82,745 total documents had been processed by the office in 2021.

In 2019, 74,378 were processed and in 2020, 98,140 documents were processed, according to a county news release. If activity continues at its current pace, the office will process at least 118,750 documents this year.

“I’m very proud of my staff. They have worked through every phase of this pandemic,” said Robin Robinson, the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds. “I cannot thank them enough for all their hard work.”

This year’s numbers from January to July are nearly 39 percent higher than the 2020 numbers, and even higher compared to 2019. The combination of low interest rates and the housing market boom in 2020 contributed to the ongoing increase.

Robinson said out of the 34 different document types recorded in the office, “the vast majority of documents being processed this year are deeds, mortgages and mortgage satisfactions, which is due to refinancing being a hot item.”

In 2008, the Recorder of Deeds started e-recording documents and the popularity of the service grew each year — with a dramatic uptick in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began and continued in 2021.

Robinson said she anticipated that the pandemic would create problems in productivity and thus sped up some office upgrades, including a switch from desktop computers to laptops, ultimately allowing staff to work remotely for more than a year.

The adaption also allowed for a satellite office in the county building to open to the public by appointment, according to the news release.

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