Fort Smith metro home sales market sees nearly 25% jump for July

The Fort Smith home sales market, which includes Sebastian and Crawford counties, continued its upward trend for 2017 in July, according to data provided by Chris Welk of Weichert Realtors – King Realty Group.

“The market continues to show steady improvement across most all of the indicators,” Welk said. Combined the two counties posted $213.705 million in sales volume, a gain of 9.72% from 2016’s $194.778 million performance year-to-date.

July was an especially strong month with $36.718 million in sales volume against $29.598 million in July 2016. Sebastian led the way with $27.472 million versus $22.228 million for the previous 31-day period, a 23.9% improvement. Overall the market’s largest county experienced a more modest gain of 7.49% through the first seven months with $154.263 million in sales volume versus $143.519 million in 2016.

Sebastian has enjoyed an uptick in units sold and average sale price as well for month-to-month and year-to-date. For July, there were 141 units sold, a 23.68% increase from 114 units in July 2016. For the first seven months of 2017, this brings the total to 911 units, a 6.67% jump from 854 units in 2016. Sale prices climbed to $181,551 for the 31-day period and $153,750 YTD, up from $163,800 and $145,136 – gains of 10.84% and 5.94%, respectively.

The only drop either county experienced was in the right area – days on market (DOM). In July, the average time before a sale for Sebastian was 106 days, down from 110 in July 2016, while the YTD tally was a bit longer at 111 days versus 134 during the same period last year. Crawford’s DOM was about the same for month and year comparisons. In July, the days on market were 112 days versus 133 days from July 2016, while the YTD figure was 114 days versus 139 days last year.

Crawford County turned out a strong increase in sales volume of 25.45% with $9.246 million for the month against $7.37 million for the previous 31-day period. The performance improved YTD totals to $59.442 million from $51.259 million for the first seven months of 2016, a 15.96% increase overall. Sale prices, on average, rose to $135,422 from $127,355 the previous July and $127,870 YTD against 2016’s $127,129 — gains of 6.33% and 0.58%, respectively.

“This shows that even in smaller locations the market is improving with homes selling for more and quicker than in the past,” Welk said.

Crawford County also sold more units for July and the year as a whole with gains to 62 units from 56 in the 31-day period and 408 units from 362 YTD. Combined the two counties sold 203 units against July 2016’s 170, bringing the overall market to 1,319 against last year’s 1,216, an 8.47% gain.

BY THE NUMBERS (Jan.-July for 2017; full year numbers for 2016, 2015)
• Crawford County
Unit Sales
2017: 408
2016: 670
2015: 606

Sales Volume
2017: $59.442 million
2016: $83.984 million
2015: $72.808 million

Average Sales Price
2017: $127,870
2016: $125,350
2015: $120,145

• Sebastian County
Unit Sales
2017: 911
2016: 1,557
2015: 1,459

Sales Volume
2017: $154.263 million
2016: $230.803 million
2015: $204.894 million

Average Sales Price
2017: $153,750
2016: $148,236
2015: $140,435