The City Wire: No confidence in Arkansas Realtors Housing report

The City Wire will not issue a report on the June housing report released Tuesday (Aug. 24) by the Arkansas Realtors Association because the report contains discrepancies, especially in the Fort Smith area.

For example, the year-to-date (Jan.-June) figures in Tuesday’s report show 7 home sales in Franklin County. However, the May report from the ARA had 32 homes sold for the Jan.-May 2010 period. The year-to-date numbers for Crawford and Sebastian counties also contain irregularities.

The following response was received from ARA spokeswoman Amy Glover Bryant after asking about the possibly inaccurate numbers: “As you know this is not a complete list and only covers residential properties reported through the multiple listing services in Arkansas who participate in our report. Would love to help more but am limited by the information I am receiving from the various MLS services.”

Because the first three sets of numbers with the first three counties analyzed by The City Wire presented unresolved questions, there is little confidence in the accuracy of the regional numbers and overall state report.

The monthly ARA report has been a valuable tool in providing perspective on the health of an important sector of the Arkansas economy. It is hoped the ARA will soon provide an explanation or an updated report so we may continue to confidently track the state’s housing sector.