Area home inventory up, average prices flat

The number of homes for sale in Fort Smith and Van Buren is up 12% between January and Sept. 28, with the average list price of new and existing homes remaining flat for the 9-month period.

A recent Arkansas Realtors Association report shows that the average price of homes in the Fort Smith/Van Buren markets as of Sept. 28 was $186,843. The average price was down 0.2% from the average on Jan. 5, and is the lowest average price of the four metro areas in the ARA report. The average price of new and existing homes as of Sept. 28 in the other three metro areas were:
Northwest Arkansas, $236,893;
Central Arkansas, $229,406; and
Jonesboro area, $192,236.

There were 1,258 homes sold in Crawford, Franklin and Sebastian counties during the first seven months of 2009, a decline of 14.3% over the same period in 2008, according to the ARA. The combined value of the homes sold in the first seven months of 2009 in the three regional counties was $132.51 million, down 17.3% from the $160.84 million value recorded during the same period in 2008.

Statewide, the number of homes sold in the first seven months of 2009 was 13,786, down 11.22% from the same period in 2008. The value of homes sold statewide during the first seven months of 2009 is $2.005 billion, down 14.73% from the same period in 2008.

ARA HOUSING STATS
Fort Smith/Van Buren real estate markets
Average list price of new and existing homes
28 SEPT: $186,843
5 JAN: $187,232

Median list price of new and existing homes
28 SEPT: $149,900
5 JAN: $146,900

Inventory of new and existing homes
28 SEPT: 1,146
5 JAN: 1,023