Fort Smith home sales market posts gains for year, Sebastian down in August

The Fort Smith metro home sales market is up 10% through the first eight months of the year despite soft August numbers. While the region which consists of Sebastian and Crawford counties was off by 7.46% for the last 31 days, it stayed afloat on stronger gains from Crawford County.

The monthly total was $31.913 million, down from $34.487 million in August of 2016. For the year it was a different story with the two counties logging $225.912 million against $204.455 million through the first eight months of 2016, a 10.49% gain.

Sebastian’s total for the month was $23.941 million on 152 units sold, down 14.38% from last August’s $27.963 million on 184. However, the county logged a year-to-date gain with $165.117 million on 1,070 units versus $151.91 million on 1,038 in 2016 — an increase of 8.69%. Average sales prices increased to $154,316 from $146,349 the previous year ($157,512 versus $151,976 month-to-month), while days on market shrank to 107 from 134 in 2016 (to 85 from 135 month-to-month).

According to Chris Welk, realtor at Weichert-King Realty, “In Sebastian County for the month of August the market continues to show its strength, with days on the market down 37.5% and average sale price up 3.64% compared to August 2016. The number of units sold show a decrease of 21% from last year. This means the homes that sold were higher priced homes, and sold with less time on the market than the previous year. This trend varies slightly when comparing the year to date for 2017 to the year to date of 2016, with days on the market decreasing by 25%, average sale price up 5.44%, and the number of units sold up 3.08%. This shows that although August had fewer homes sold, the trend that homes are selling quicker and at higher prices is continuing.”

The less-populous Crawford County posted larger gains on sales volume. For the year sales rose 15.7% to $60.795 million on 472 units sold from $52.545 million on 416. In August, Crawford surged 22.19% to $7.972 million on 59 units versus $6.524 million on 54. Average sales prices also rose to $128,804 against $126,311 the previous year, an increase of 1.97% (to $135,129 from $120,828 month-to-month). Days on market fell to 111 from 136 YTD and 90 from 120 month-to-month.

Welk observed that August days on market “has decreased by 24.17%” for Crawford while “the average sale price has increased 11.84%, and the number of units sold is up 9.26% from August of 2016,” showing the market in Crawford is following similar trends as Sebastian “with homes spending less time on the market and selling for higher prices.”

“The market continues to show steady improvement across most all of the indicators,” Welk said.

BY THE NUMBERS (Jan.-Aug. for 2017; full year numbers for 2016, 2015)
Crawford County
Unit Sales
2017: 472
2016: 670
2015: 606

Sales Volume
2017: $60.795 million
2016: $83.984 million
2015: $72.808 million

Average Sales Price
2017: $128,804
2016: $125,350
2015: $120,145

Sebastian County
Unit Sales
2017: 1,070
2016: 1,557
2015: 1,459

Sales Volume
2017: $165.117 million
2016: $230.803 million
2015: $204.894 million

Average Sales Price
2017: $154,316
2016: $148,236
2015: $140,435