Arvest Bank leads November mortgage activity

The Fort Smith regional housing market may be somewhat tepid, but Arvest Bank has been able to capture as much of the mortgage business is possible.

The Bentonville-based bank captured 27.2% of the Sebastian County lender market share — share of mortgages between $50,000 and $417,000 — during November. BancorpSouth was second with 9.8% of the market, and Benefit Bank with 8%. Following is the lender market share list in Sebastian County during November.

Arvest Bank: 27.2%
BancorpSouth: 9.8%
Benefit Bank: 8%
Quicken Loans: 4.4%
First National Bank of Fort Smith: 4.1%
Wells Fargo Bank: 3.5%
Regions Bank: 3.3%
Liberty Bank of Arkansas 3.1%
Regions Mortgage: 3%
First Financial Bank: 2.9%
SWBC Mortgage Corp. 2.6%
Citizens Bank & Trust Co.: 2.2%
First Western Mortgage: 2%
First Western Bank: 1.6%
Simmons First National Bank: 1.6%
Others: 20.7%

“The Fort Smith/River Valley region for Arvest has a large retail/consumer customer base; As a result, our mortgage loan officers have been very busy during this period of low mortgage rates,” Craig Rivaldo, CEO of Arvest’s Fort Smith-River Valley division.

Sales of new and existing homes in Crawford, Franklin and Sebastian counties totaled 1,501 during the first 10 months of 2011, down 2% compared to the 2010 period, according to an Arkansas Realtors Association report released Dec. 5. Home sales in Sebastian County during the first 10 months of 2011 total 972, down 5.9% compared to the 2010 period.

Arvest has managed to capture a clear lead in mortgage activity without being the top regional bank in terms of deposit market share.

According to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. report released Oct. 4, First National Bank of Fort Smith had $772.809 million in deposits, or 17.88% of the regional market share as of June 30, 2011. The bank’s market share grew from 17.25% as of June 30, 2010, and 16.96% at June 30, 2009.

BancorpSouth was second with 13.25% of the market share, and Arvest had 11.01% of the Fort Smith regional market share.

Rivaldo said low interest rates have pushed much of the mortgage activity.

“During this tough economic period, it is great our customers are able to refinance their home loans and significantly reduce their monthly payments,” he explained.