NWA home sales rally continues

It took just four hours for Jim Long, a real estate agent with Crye-Leike In Bentonville, to sell one of his listings in May.

“I also had another listing go under contract in two days and through just five months of 2013 I have already surpassed my sales during all of last year,” Long said.

Water cooler conversations like these have been common in local real estate firms as the housing markets in Benton and Washington counties posted solid double-digit gains again in May.

Local agents sold 663 homes last month and sales volume increased 17% to $119.81 million, according to MountData.com

Benton County agents sold 414 homes in May compared to 383 in the year ago period. Total sales value rose 16.36% to $78.712 million as the median home price continues to improve.

Washington County reported 249 home sales in May. These sales totaled $41.106 million, up 18.68% from the same month in 2012.

Crye-Leike Realty reported sales in its Northwest Arkansas division were up 18% in May, totaling $35 million. The local franchise of Coldwell Banker said their agents sold 11% more homes in May and total sales volume rose 19% from the same month last year.

Paul Bynum, market analyst with MountData.com, said the home inventory level rose by 150 units in May from the prior month. There were 3,509 homes listed for sale in the two counties at the end May. Inventories are down 6% from the same month last year and 51% lower than the all-time high in August 2007.

Bynum said lower inventory levels are helping to keep prices higher. The median sales price for the region through May was $147,000, up 8.8% from last year.

Agents said foreclosure inventory is coming back onto the market after nearly a two-year lull as lenders are taking the opportunity to list foreclosed homes at a time when prices are moving higher.

“We are seeing more foreclosures flowing into the market, which will tend to damper prices, but the lower inventories are offsetting that somewhat,” George Faucette, CEO of Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney & Faucette Real Estate, explained.

He said May 2012 was a strong comparison month and he is pleased with the way the local market is performing this entire year. Faucette said his firm’s sales are up 28% year-to-date through May, when compared to last year.

Crye-Leike said sales in Northwest Arkansas ($147 million) are up 17% through May, over the year ago period. Coldwell Banker and Crye-Leike together comprise a lion’s share of the local market as two of the region’s three largest firms.

Through May, Bynum said agents in Northwest Arkansas sold 2,709 homes valued at $481.054 million. Market activity is up 19% and 24%, respectively. Bynum said while the majority of the homes sold this year were priced below $150,000, there have been six homes sold above $1 million.

He said there is a 6-month supply of homes priced between $100,000 and $150,000, which is a balanced market. Homes priced under $100,000 are in a deep seller’s market with an inventory supply of four months. There is an 8-month supply of homes priced between $200,000 and $400,000.

The price per-square-foot averaged $81.50 in Benton County and $84.40 in Washington County among all of the local sales this year.

Bynum said homes selling this year spent an average of 101 days on the market from listing to contract, roughly 2.5 weeks shorter than last year.

Northwest Arkansas Home Sales (info from MountData.com)
(Benton and Washington Counties)
Total Sales Volume (January-May)
2013: $481.054 million
2012: $387.291 million

Unit Sales (January-May)
2013: 2,705
2012: 2,351

Median Price (January-May)
2013: $147,000
2012: $135,000