Crawford, Sebastian county home sales up 4.5% in October, cracks $300 million mark in year-to-date sales

A significant increase in month-to-month home sales for Crawford County pushed the Fort Smith home sales market – Crawford, Sebastian counties – to a slight gain for October, continuing the year-to-date improvement over 2016.

The combined market, according to data provided by Jordan Jack and Mike Carter of Weichert Realtors-King Realty Group, logged $30.729 million in sales volume on a total of 182 units sold compared to $29.398 million on 192 units in October 2016, a gain of 4.53% on volume and 5.21% on inventory.

With 10 months completed, the total broke the $300 million mark, logging $311.868 million (1,903 units) against $297.745 million (1,868) the previous year, gains of 4.74% and 1.87%, respectively.

Crawford County has shown the more significant percentage improvements year-to-date with $87.837 million logged through October compared to $75.509 million the previous year, an increase of 16.33%. The improvement in units sold was almost half of that percentage-wise, moving to 594 units from 544 the previous year, a 9.19% gain.

Sebastian County also posted gains, though those gains are receding as the year comes to a close. Year-to-date, the county that houses most of the market’s home sales activity has logged $224.031 million in sales volume against $222.236 million the previous year, a gain of 0.81%, which factors in a 4.15% drop for the last 31 days of activity.

In October, Sebastian County reported $21.556 million against $22.49 million the previous year. The county has witnessed a drop in unit sales as well, both month-to-month and year-to-date. For October, the county moved 122 units against 130, a decline of 6.15%. The drop is less pronounced through 10 months with 1,309 units against 1,324 the previous year, a 1.13% decrease.

Kevin King of Weichert Realtors-King Realty Group, said the average listing’s days on market (DOM) and sales price continued to improve in both markets showing less inventory available as “the good stuff keeps selling too fast.”

“If you see something you like, you better buy it or it’ll be gone most likely,” King said.

For the year, Sebastian County showed a 20.46% drop in the time it takes for a house to sell. The YTD figure is 105 days against 132 last year. Sales prices have moved to $154,374 for the year, up 4.19% compared to 2016’s $148,168. On the Crawford County side, DOM is at 109 days for the year against 135 last year, a drop of 19.26%, while sales prices are $129,958 against $124,655, a 4.25% improvement.

BY THE NUMBERS (Jan.-Oct. for 2017; full year numbers for 2016, 2015)
• Crawford County
Unit Sales
2017: 594
2016: 670
2015: 606

Sales Volume
2017: $87.837 million
2016: $93.499 million
2015: $83.5 million

Average Sales Price
2017: $129,958
2016: $125,350
2015: $120,145

• Sebastian County
Unit Sales
2017: 1,309
2016: 1,557
2015: 1,459

Sales Volume
2017: $224.031 million
2016: $262.523 million
2015: $230.742 million

Average Sales Price
2017: $154,374
2016: $148,236
2015: $140,435