Foreclosure Train Picking Up Steam In State

It’s been nearly one year since bank litigation halted much of the foreclosure activity across the Natural State, but local real estate agents say the pace is starting to pick up as more listings are making their back into inventory.

In August, there were 550 new foreclosure listings across the state compared to 750 filings a year ago. While the year-over-year pace fell 26.67%, the activity rose 61% from the prior month, according to data provided by RealtyTrac.

“Bucking the national trend, deferred foreclosure activity boiled over in several states in August,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.

He said several non-judicial states like Arkansas showed steep increases in the past month now that the backlog in the pipeline has started to move forward.

“This rebounding pattern will likely be repeated in the coming months in other states that have passed legislation delaying the foreclosure process,” Blomquist said.

The federal court ruling that put state foreclosures on hold in October 2011 was reversed in April. It has taken several months but agents say they are starting to get more HUD and other bank-owned listings each week.

“We are hearing from HUD that by October the volume of properties coming back should return to more normal patterns. Up to this point those homes that have come back since April have been priced to sell and they have not lingered on the market very long,” said Vicki Briolat, agent with Crye-Leike Realtors in Bentonville.

You can read more analysis from Souza on the northwest Arkansas real estate market at this link.