January-November regional home sales see double-digit decline

Regional real estate sales for the first 11 months of the year show a 12% decline in the number of homes sold in Sebastian County and a 19.8% decline in Crawford County, according to a report released Tuesday (Dec. 30) by the Arkansas Realtors Association.

A regional bright spot in the November report from the Arkansas Realtors Association is that the average home prices year-to-date are up in Franklin (13.1%) and Sebastian (1.74%) counties.

Kevin King, owner and principal broker of King Realty Group, said the Fort Smith regional numbers reflect a supply and demand issue in the various price ranges of homes.

He said homes that sell for $150,000 and less are “moving well” because that price range “is a well-balanced market in terms of supply and demand.” Homes priced between $150,000-$250,000 sell at a slower pace.

The real problem is with excess supply versus demand for homes priced above $250,000, King said.

“Those folks that can buy those ($250,000-plus) homes, we’ve got a lot more of those people leaving the market than are entering,” King said. “We’re losing those executives that buy in that (price) range.”

King said low interest rates should keep Fort Smith regional home sales from dipping much further in 2009. The unknown variable in his prediction, King admitted, is the increasing number of local job losses.

“The question is, ‘Will we see that continue? How many more (job losses) will we see and how fast will that (job market) improve?’” King said.

According to the Arkansas Realtors Association, 23,400 homes were sold January-November, down 18.96% from the same period of 2007. The value of those homes in that period totaled $3.48 billion, down 20.34% from the 2007 period.

The housing report for the Fort Smith region is as follows:

Number of homes sold
Crawford County
January-November 2008: 578
January-November 2007: 721

Franklin County
January-November 2008: 68
January-November 2007: 96

Sebastian County
January-November 2008: 1,273
January-November 2007: 1,448

Value of homes sold
Crawford County
January-November 2008: $70.36 million
January-November 2007: $90.3 million

Franklin County
January-November 2008: $6.05 million
January-November 2007: $7.56 million

Sebastian County
January-November 2008: $168.88 million
January-November 2007: $188.82 million

Average price of homes sold
Crawford County
January-November 2008: $121,733
January-November 2007: $125,250

Franklin County
January-November 2008: $89,095
January-November 2007: $78,767

Sebastian County
January-November 2008: $132,665
January-November 2007: $130,401

The top five Arkansas counties in terms of number of homes sold January-November are:
Pulaski County (4,172, down 19.92% from 2007)
Benton County (3,055, down 19.88% from 2007)
Washington County (1,843, down 26.52% from 2007)
Saline County (1,324, down 21.56% from 2007)
Sebastian County (1,273, down 12.09% from 2007)