Area home sales up in October, values mixed

Home sales in the Fort Smith area showed mixed results in October compared to the same month in 2012.

In Crawford County, 46 homes were sold last month resulting in sales volume of $5.145 million. That is an increase of 3.92% over October 2012 when 37 homes were sold at a volume of $4.951 million.

Sebastian County saw 103 homes sold last month at $12.517 million in volume, which was actually a drop of 9.54% from the same month last year. Even though only 92 homes were sold last year, the volume was $13.837 million.

For the first 10 months of 2013, home sales are down almost 3% in Crawford County and are up 13.6% in Sebastian County.

Jerome Flusche, principal broker with Kralicek Realty in Fort Smith, said even though job announcements have been made in the last year that will add more than 1,000 jobs to the area job market, the losses during the Great Recession have still impacted home sales.

"Used to, we had a constant turnover from less-priced homes as people moved on," he said. "Now, property is not moving as good as it should."

Flusche said in some parts of the country, home prices are returning to pre-recession levels. But he said the Fort Smith metro area is struggling to recover home prices.

His assertion is based on average sale prices for homes sold, which in October were lower in both counties. Crawford County had a decline in average price of 16.41% from $133,827 last October to $111,866 the same month this year. Sebastian County saw an even larger decline, dropping 19.2% during the same period from $150,398 to $121,525.

And while Flusche would like to believe the economy is on its way back, he said the proof of how the economy is doing can be found in the rental markets.

"From a rental property standpoint, we have some vacant commercial property," he said. "But most of our residential property is pretty well rented."

With commercial vacancies up and residential vacancies down, it shows a lack of confidence in the markets, he said. The only upside is that with less people shopping for homes and more people looking to rent, the market for rental property managers is in good shape.

"This market we're in now is amazing, especially for people wanting to build rental property. I think that's why you see so many new duplexes going up in Fort Smith."

And even though Flusche would describe the area's economy as "stagnant," he provided some level of perspective.

"I remember back in Jimmy Carter's era where I financed a house at 13%," he said. "A lot of people didn't think interest rates would ever be below 10%."

Home Sales Data (January-October)
• Crawford County
Unit Sales
2013: 422
2012: 435

Total Sales Volume
2013: $47.002 million
2012: $52.26 million

Median Sales Price
2013: $106,000
2012: $120,139

• Sebastian County
Unit Sales
2013: 1,048
2012: 922

Total Sales Volume
2013: $144.44 million
2012: $128.537 million

Median Sales Price
2013: $115,000
2012: $119,000