U.S. Foreclosures Lowest In Eight Years, Arkansas Filings Down 4%

Arkansas foreclosure activity continues to slow and is part of a national trend in which first quarter foreclosures were their lowest rate in 8 years, according to Irvine, Calif.,-based RealtyTrac.com.

There were 313,487 U.S. properties in foreclosure during the first quarter of this year, down 8% from a year ago. These properties included those in default, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.

Arkansas had 1,302 foreclosure filings reported in the first quarter, down 4.12% from the year-ago period, according to RealtyTrac. Also following a national trend, the number of bank repossessions reported in March ticked higher in most Arkansas counties and marked a 17-month high for bank repossessions in the country.

“The 17-month high in bank repossessions in March corresponds to a 17-month high in scheduled foreclosures auctions in October,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “The March increase is continued cleanup of distress still lingering from the previous housing crisis; not the beginning of a new crisis by any means. Some of the most stubborn foreclosure cases are finally being flushed out of the foreclosure pipeline, and we would expect to see more noise in the numbers over the next few months as national foreclosure activity makes its way back to more stable patterns by the end of this year.”

Despite the spike in March, bank repossessions in the first quarter were still down from a year ago. Lenders repossessed 82,081 U.S. properties during the quarter, up 7% from the previous quarter but still down 14% from a year ago.

Properties that completed the foreclosure process in the first quarter took an average of 620 days to complete the foreclosure process, up from 572 days in the first quarter of 2014.

States with the highest foreclosure rates in the first quarter were Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Illinois, and New Jersey. Among metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 200,000 or more, those with the highest foreclosure rates were Atlantic City, N.J., Rockford, Ill., Ocala, Fla., Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla., and Miami, Fla.