Northwest Arkansas home sales up 30% in November

by Paul Gatling ([email protected]) 1,939 views 

Home sales in Northwest Arkansas were up nearly 30% in November. Boosted by the strong activity, the region’s year-to-date numbers continue to far outpace last year’s numbers.

There were 10,971 homes sold through November this year in Benton and Washington counties, up 12.4% from 9,759 homes sold during the same period of 2019. That’s according to data from the Matrix software platform used by the Northwest Arkansas Board of Realtors (NABOR) and provided to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal by Marcus Necessary, vice president and executive broker with Weichert, Realtors-The Griffin Co.

The combined sales volume this year through November is up 24% — from $2.41 billion in the first 11 months of 2019 to $3 billion in the same period this year.

In the two-county area, combined home sales totaled 1,003 in November, up 29.6% from 774 in November 2019.

Benton County reported 667 home sales worth a combined $198.8 million in November. That compares with 511 and $130.8 million in the same month a year ago.

In Washington County, agents sold 336 homes in November, up from 263 in November 2019, with a combined value of $92.9 million, up from $63.7 million.

The average price of each home sale through November also was higher this year. In Benton County, the average home sale had a value of $283,133, up 11.3% from $254,283. In Washington County, the average home sale price through November was $257,506, up 7.6% from $236,270 compared with the same period of 2019.

Despite the growing appetite for homebuying, the lack of housing inventory continues to be a pain point. According to the NABOR data, available inventory in the two-county area dropped 52% from January to December this year.