Arvest Commissions Study on Northwest Arkansas Real Estate

Bentonville-based Arvest Bank Group Inc. commissioned the University of Arkansas to do a project called the Arvest Commercial Skyline Report, a series of reports on multi-family and single-family residential real estate and commercial real estate in Northwest Arkansas.

Jeff Collins, director of the UA’s Center for Business and Economic Research, and Cathy Deck, associate director, are conducting the study, which the Arvesters consider a value-added perk for their customers. It’s also being used to help evaluate future loan growth in the market.

The detailed quarterly findings are proprietary information. Arvest has made a sizeable investment in the study but declined to say how much.

Deck said Arvest officials have discussed making some of the findings public, but the information would probably be less detailed and some of it might be aggregated.

Deck said she could share some of the broader findings.

“We have seen spectacular growth in Benton County,” she said, in terms of commercial square footage. Also, those additional feet are remaining empty for a little while before getting rented.”

Part of the study requires that all active subdivisions in both counties get visual confirmation on how quickly new construction is completed. There are currently more than 12,000 residential lots under development and about that many again have been approved for future development, she said.

Deck said the bottom line so far is that the area “is on a sustainable growth path” and that any market imbalances will correct themselves.