House Repossession in Arkansas Metro Areas Rising
Filings for house repossession surged in the top three metropolitan areas in Arkansas in the first half of this year. During the period, the metropolitan area of Fort Smith saw a 6.4 percent increase in foreclosure filings.
According to industry experts, the metropolitan area of Fort Smith had 614 distressed properties in some kind of foreclosure process from January to June, compared with 577 properties for the same period the previous year.
In the metropolitan area of Northwest Arkansas, foreclosure filings were made on 3,838 houses for the first six months of this year, compared with 2,319 in the first half the previous year.
Meanwhile, in the metropolitan area of Little Rock-North Little, 2,264 homeowners were in some kind of foreclosure proceeding during the period, an increase from the 2,111 filings made in the same period last year.
Industry analysts pointed out that the foreclosure situation in the metropolitan area of Fort Smith was stable during the first six months of this year, adding that one out of 201 homes were in some kind of foreclosure proceedings.
Additionally, one out of 130 houses in the Little Rock-North Little metropolitan area received foreclosure filing. Similarly, the Northwest Arkansas metropolitan area had one out of 48 properties on the brink of house repossession.
Statewide, one in every 149 homeowner is in danger of losing a house due to foreclosure. On the other hand, Little Rock-North Little was the only top three metropolitan areas in Arkansas that saw a drop in foreclosures activity from the last half of 2008 to the first half of the current year.
Industry analysts said that the repossession activity in areas previously reeling from the effects of the foreclosure crisis was starting to level off, citing Florida, California and Michigan. However, areas which previously recorded stable repossession numbers were the ones showing some increases during the first half of this year.
They pointed out that over 20 percent of metropolitan areas that showed above average foreclosure numbers were in the states of Arkansas, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, South Carolina and Illinois. They added that the trend indicated that the current wave of foreclosure is fueled by the rising unemployment rather than the collapse of subprime loans and adjustable rate loans.
