Report: NWA home sellers net $68K profit in first quarter

A new report from California-based Attom Data Solutions, which tracks national housing and foreclosure data, said a typical home sale in Northwest Arkansas during the first three months of the year generated $68,750 in profit.

That’s the highest quarterly profit since Attom began charting the data in 2008. It’s up a whopping 58% from the year-ago period and a 27.5% increase from the fourth quarter of 2020.

The rise in profit came as the Northwest Arkansas median home price increased 3% from the fourth quarter of 2020, to $225,000. That’s 18% higher than where it stood one year ago.

The report included metros with at least 1,000 single-family home and condo sales in the first three months of 2021 and a population of more than 200,000.

Central Arkansas sellers (Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway) turned a $20,021 profit from a typical home sale in the first three months of 2021. That’s down 13% from the end of 2020 but up 90% from the first quarter of 2020.

First-quarter home sales generated a profit of $70,050 nationwide, down from $75,750 in the fourth quarter of 2020 but still up 26% from $55,750 in the first quarter of 2020.

“The latest data on home prices and seller profits across the U.S. provide the latest markers of how the U.S. housing market keeps roaring ahead even as major parts of the broader economy try to overcome the impact of the pandemic,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer at Attom.

Attom said profit margins dropped year-over-year in just 18 of the 149 metro areas analyzed (12%).