According to an article published by CNN money, plummeting oil prices may be related to problems with housing markets in Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota. While the national rate of foreclosure filings has dropped to a nine-year low, states heavily involved in the production of oil have not been as lucky. As oil prices have declines,
foreclosure filings have increased in these three states.
The potential cause? Lower oil prices have led to massive layoffs throughout
the country, causing strain in local economies closely tied to the energy
sector. North Dakota, for example, was hit the hardest, suffering a 387
percent increase in foreclosures last year. In Oklahoma, 11,388 properties
received at least one foreclosure filing, bringing its rate of foreclosure
activity up 36 percent. And Texas, which currently has one of the fastest
foreclosure processes in the country, began seeing a rise in foreclosure
filings in 2014. Foreclosure activity has risen 15.7 percent for the state
as a whole, but many oil boom towns have seen significantly larger increases.
The west Texas town of Midland, for instance, saw a 36 percent increase
over the previous year in 2015.
Because these three states made it through the 2008 housing bust relatively
unscathed, their current housing markets are reflecting a new wave of
distress unrelated to activity leftover from the subprime loan crisis.
Cities dependent on the oil economy may be at risk as the effects of this
new crisis ripple out to other areas.
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