Foreclosure filings inch higher in August for much of Arkansas

The foreclosure crisis is largely over for much of the United States including Arkansas, but there continues to be some counties seeing more delinquent filings and foreclosure sales through August.

ATTOM Data Solutions reports 441 foreclosure filings in Arkansas during August rising  5.95% from July and up 26% over a year ago. August foreclosures were also higher for the nation, but when compared to a year ago foreclosure filings nationwide were down 13.17%, according to ATTOM Data Solutions.

The real estate recovery has been somewhat uneven from state to state with areas tied to the oil and gas industry being the most impacted this year from plunging commodity prices. While Arkansas is not closely connected to the oil industry, the fracking jobs in central Arkansas around the Fayetteville Shale have disappeared over the past year which could be part of the reason Arkansas is lagging the nation in terms of its year-over-year results.

Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions, told Talk Business & Politics that foreclosure activity overall decreased across the nation on a year-over-year basis for the 11th consecutive month in August, driven by sharp decreases compared to a year ago in both foreclosure starts and foreclosure completions known as REOs.

“Although foreclosure starts increased 8% from July to August, the 39,000 foreclosure starts in August are still below pre-recession levels of 2005 and 2006, when we saw an average of more than 55,000 foreclosure starts per month. REOs are decreasing but continue to run a low-grade fever, still trending above pre-recession levels as banks are still working through a long tail of legacy distress still lingering from the housing bust,” Blomquist added.

FORT SMITH METRO
Foreclosure filings were up 333% from August a year, but even so Crawford County reported just 13 total foreclosures in the month of August compared to 3 a year ago. Given there are more than 26,333 housing units in Crawford County, foreclosure filings are still a rare event. Zillow reports there are 6 foreclosure home listings across the small county.

Sebastian County reported foreclosure filings up 100% year-over-year with 18 households somewhere in the foreclosure pipeline. Foreclosures still represent just 0.03% of the total households in the county. ATTOM reports half of the delinquencies were slated for auction and the other 9 have already been taken back by the lender and awaiting re-sale. Another foreclosure source, Zillow, reports there are 13 residential foreclosure listings for sale in the county, the bulk of those are outside the Fort Smith area.

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS
North of the Bobby Hopper Tunnel, Washington and Benton counties saw foreclosure filings move in separate directions. The more populated Benton County reported 35 new filings in August, down 2.78% from a year ago, and 14.8% fewer than reported in July. About half of the foreclosures in Benton County have already been reclaimed by the lender and are listed for sale. According to Zillow there are around 27 residential listings, but that also includes acreage. The most expensive foreclosure listed is a $5.5 million, 16,000-square-foot mansion featuring 6 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. The least expensive is a $34,900 double-wide mobile home foreclosure also located in Rogers.

In Washington County there were 17 new foreclosure filings in August, up 6.25% from a year ago, and 30.7% higher than in July. Still foreclosures remain a mere fraction of their former peak levels prior to recession. It looks to be Springdale that has the majority of the foreclosure sales listings on Zillow for the county. There continue to be a few foreclosures in East Springdale, an area that was hit hard by the recession and housing crisis in 2008 and 2009 and 2010. Real estate experts have told Talk Business & Politics that several new neighborhoods catering to lower income families were hit hard between 2009 and 2011 with more than their fair share of foreclosures. Undocumented loans to subprime borrowers is likely the reason for many of the foreclosures during that time frame, according to local real estate experts.

Tami Fagan, agent with Crye Leike Real Estate in Fayetteville have said the market is much healthier today and foreclosures remain a tiny part of the overall sales volume. One in every 5,219 household in Washington County was slated for foreclosure in August, according to the ATTOM report.

CENTRAL ARKANSAS
The bulk of the state’s foreclosure filings in August were in Pulaski County, the largest populated area of the state with more than 178,659 households. ATTOM reports 103 foreclosure filings across Pulaski County in August. The foreclosure pace was down 8% from a year ago, but rose 10.75% from the July report. Foreclosure remains a rare occurrence in Pulaski County accounting for 0.06% of the total households.

Zillow reports 142 foreclosure listings in Pulaski County, the majority of which are located in the immediate Little Rock area. At the high-end the most expensive foreclosure in Pulaski County is a $629,000 home near the Little Rock Country Club. On the low end one of the most inexpensive foreclosure listings is a $14,900, 1,033-square-foot home not far from University of Arkansas Little Rock campus.

In neighboring Faulkner County there were 20 new foreclosure filings in August. The foreclosure pace was down year-over-year by 11%, but it was 23% higher than in July. The household foreclosure rate in Faulkner County remains low at one in every 2,403 households. The majority of the August filings were for properties moving out of the foreclosure pipeline as bank-owned properties.

Zillow reports there are 30 residential properties for sale as foreclosures in Faulkner County, which includes raw acreage. On the low end, the cheapest foreclosure listing on Zillow is a $40,000, 1,190 square-foot home in Mayflower. At the high end a $159,900 listing in Conway features 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

NORTHEAST ARKANSAS
In Craighead County there were 10 foreclosure filings in August, up 66% from a year ago and flat against the July report. Craighead County has a population of 99,835 with 41,919 households, according to the ATTOM report. One in every 4,192 households in the county are in the midst of foreclosure, one of the lowest foreclosure rates in the state behind Washington County.

Zillow reports there are 6 foreclosure residential listings for sale in the county. Four of those are already slated for auction. The foreclosures were spread out across the county from Bono to the West and Monte to the East.