Black Knight: Arizona Real Estate Continues Trend of Strong Gains from Crisis Years; Changing Market Conditions Demand Quality Data

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Data & Analytics division of Black Knight Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: BKFS) drew upon its industry-leading data assets to report on the size and scope of the Arizona real estate market's recovery since the housing crisis. Though long considered an extreme example of the nation's foreclosure, negative equity and distressed property sales problems, the overall Arizona real estate market has significantly rebounded from the housing crisis, and the Phoenix metropolitan market in particular is now outperforming the nation as a whole in some ways.

"As a leading provider of real estate, title and mortgage data, Black Knight has been tracking the mortgage and housing markets for decades now," said Ben Graboske, executive vice president of Black Knight's Data & Analytics division. "The negative impacts of the crisis years were always most pronounced among the so-called 'sand states' – Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada. By just about every metric – mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures, plummeting house prices, underwater borrowers, distressed sales – Arizona was one of those states hit hardest. It's been a long eight years, and while there is still a lot of ground to make up, much of the damage is now in the rearview mirror. With such significantly changing market conditions, it's critical that real estate industry professionals have access to current, reliable, high-quality data."

Drawing upon the Black Knight Home Price Index (HPI), the company's extensive public records data set and its market-leading, loan-level mortgage performance data, Black Knight reported the following key findings from its analysis of the Arizona real estate market:

Home Prices as of December 2016   

• Arizona's median home price was $235,000, up 52 percent from the local market's bottom in August 2011
• Phoenix's median home price was $248,000, up 62 percent from August 2011
• At both the state and metro level, home prices remain about 21 percent off the peak set in May 2006

Distressed Sales

• Bank-owned foreclosures and short sales made up as much as 70 percent of Phoenix-area transactions during the crisis years (peaking in February 2009)
• REO sales peaked in 2009, while short sales peaked in 2011
• Today, distressed sales represent only 3.7 percent of the market

Foreclosures and Delinquencies

• Arizona's foreclosure rate is just 0.36 percent, and Phoenix's is 0.31 percent; nationally .94 percent of loans are in active foreclosure
• Phoenix's current delinquency rate is 2.9 percent and Arizona's is 3.1 percent; the national rate is 4.2 percent

Negative Equity

• At the end of 2010, almost 30 percent of U.S. homeowners were underwater on their mortgages; in Arizona, nearly half of all homeowners were underwater
•  At that time, 55 percent of Phoenix homeowners owed more on their mortgage loans than their homes were worth
• Today, approximately 4.6 percent of borrowers in the state and 4.1 percent in the Phoenix area remain in negative equity positions
  

"Complete, accurate and up-to-date property information is of the utmost importance in any real estate transaction," said Lisa Roessler, Black Knight's vice president of title strategy for its Data & Analytics Division. "During the Great Recession, the Arizona and Phoenix real estate markets experienced widespread foreclosures and distressed transactions -- both short sales and bank-owned properties. For properties with that kind of turbulent history, access to high-quality data is critical – particularly when it comes to establishing clear chain of title. That's as true for homebuyers as it is for real estate professionals and lenders."

Black Knight's data assets include the nation's leading repository of loan-level residential mortgage data, with tens of millions of loans across the spectrum of credit products and more than 160 million historical records. Black Knight's extensive property records database covers more than 99.9 percent of the U.S., and the company also offers robust and complete title plant data spanning the entire nation, including Arizona. Lenders, servicers, realtors, investors, government agencies and title companies rely on Black Knight's data and analytics for a variety of applications. 

Black Knight offers a monthly HPI report providing essential micro-level valuation data and the most timely updates possible on home price trends. Additionally, Black Knight publishes its monthly Mortgage Monitor, an in-depth report of mortgage industry performance.

About Black Knight Financial Services, Inc. 

Black Knight Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: BKFS) is a leading provider of integrated technology, data and analytics solutions that facilitate and automate many of the business processes across the mortgage lifecycle.

Black Knight Financial Services is committed to being a premier business partner that lenders and servicers rely on to achieve their strategic goals, realize greater success and better serve their customers by delivering best-in-class technology, services and insight with a relentless commitment to excellence, innovation, integrity and leadership. For more information on Black Knight Financial Services, please visit www.bkfs.com.

SOURCE Black Knight Financial Services, Inc.

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