Residential building dips through first 4 months

Residential building permit activity for single-family homes in Northwest Arkansas’s four largest cities is slightly behind last year’s pace through the first four months of 2022.

According to permit data from each city collected by the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, there were 604 residential building permits issued through April in Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale. That’s down 5.3% from the same period of 2021 (638 permits).

The permits through April this year have a combined value of $281.35 million, up 44.4% compared with $194.83 million last year.

Officials in Bentonville issued the most permits through April with 245 ($120.71 million), up a whopping 160.6% from the previous year of 94 ($37.73 million).

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

• Fayetteville: 211 permits, $81.34 million (2022); 307 permits, $81.35 million (2021).
• Rogers: 93 permits, $39.47 million (2022); 181 permits, $54.24 million (2021).
• Springdale: 55 permits, 39.81 million (2022); 56 permits, $21.50 million (2021).

In Bella Vista, through April this year, city officials issued 198 permits valued at $67.79 million. That’s down from 220 permits and $62.75 million in the same period of 2021.

Officials in Farmington issued 71 permits valued at $22.42 million through April this year. That’s down from 124 permits and $33.10 million in the same period of 2021.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development, residential building permits in the U.S. in April were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.81 million. That was 3.2% lower than the revised March rate but 3.1% above the April 2021 rate.