Residential building in NWA surges in 3Q, now ahead of 2019 pace

Residential building permits in Northwest Arkansas’ four largest cities surged in the third quarter, and the year-over-year activity through the first nine months of the year is outpacing the same period of 2019.

According to permit data from each city collected by the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, there were 1,250 residential permits issued through September in Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale. That’s up 3.4% from the same period of 2019 (1,209 permits).

It’s also a big turnaround from the midway point of 2020, when permit activity was down 9.2% from the first half of 2019.

Year-to-date activity was up in Rogers and Springdale and down in Bentonville and Fayetteville.

Officials in Fayetteville issued the most permits through September with 380 ($110.05 million), down 10.7% from the previous year of 426 ($124.15 million).

The report from other cities through the first nine months was:

• Bentonville: 322 permits, $93.05 million (2020); 347 permits, $104.3 million (2019).
• Rogers: 317 permits, $85.31 million (2020); 246 permits, $59.81 million (2019).
• Springdale: 231 permits, $58.27 million (2020); 190 permits, $52.5 million (2019).

In Bella Vista, the homebuilding market is growing. Through September this year, city officials issued 312 permits with a combined value of $80.3 million. That compares with 202 permits (54.4%) and $55.18 million (45.5%) in the same nine months of 2019.

At the state level, residential building permits through August this year are up less than 1%, according to the latest data from the U.S. Commerce Department, from 8,064 last year to 8,110 this year.