Residential Housing Market Continues Steady Growth

Northwest Arkansas

by Talk Business & Politics ([email protected]) October 16, 2014 10:58 am 80 views 

The 35th edition of Arvest Bank’s Skyline Report for Benton and Washington counties was released Thursday, with more evidence of steady, incremental growth in the residential real estate market.

In the first six months of 2014, according to the report, the number of building permits issued increased slightly to 1,183, a 3.0 percent increase from the 1,183 building permits issued during the same period of 2013.

Benton County accounted for 746 of the residential building permits, while Washington County accounted for 437.

The total also represents an 8.1 percent increase from the 1,094 building permits issued in Benton and Washington counties from July through December of 2013.

For the full report of residential highlights prepared by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas, click here.

“The first half of 2014 was marked by continued forward movement in the residential sector,” said economist Kathy Deck, lead researcher for the Skyline Report at the CBER. “Building permit activity was up modestly, prices remained relatively stable and sales of homes were at a sustainable pace.”

The average value of all building permits in Northwest Arkansas the first six months of this year was $235,890, up 0.3 percent from the average value of $235,101 reported in the same time period of 2013, and down 3.6 percent from the average value of $244,575 reported from July through December of 2013.

“The stabilization in building permit values along with continued brisk absorption of new construction means that we’re not seeing the kind of buildup of new housing inventory that could cause future headaches,” Deck explained. “Builders seem to have consumer demand in mind when they bring the new houses to market.”

Sales of existing houses on the market were up in both Benton and Washington counties.

From January 1 to June 30, 2014, there were 3,122 houses sold in Benton and Washington counties, an increase of 2.3 percent from the 3,051 sold in the same time period of the previous year.

Other highlights of Thursday’s release are:

  • 27,620 lots were in the 385 active subdivisions identified by Skyline Report researchers in the first half of 2014.
  • In 95 out of the 385 active subdivisions, no new construction or progress in existing construction has occurred during the last year.
  • Using the absorption rate from the past twelve months implies that there was a 54.1-month supply of remaining lots in active subdivisions in Northwest Arkansas in the first half of 2014.
  • An additional 3,508 residential lots have received preliminary approval in Northwest Arkansas. Adding these proposed lots to those in active subdivisions yields 72.0 months of inventory in the first half of 2014.
  • According to the Assessors’ databases, 66.3 percent of houses in Benton County and 63.9 percent of houses in Washington County were owner-occupied.
  • The Bentonville School District accounted for 31.3 percent of the houses sold in the region, while the Rogers School District accounted for 18.2 percent.
  • There were 3,589 houses listed for sale in the MLS database as of June 30, 2014 at an average list price of $270,467.