Area home prices fall, duplex work boosts Fort Smith building permits

Average and median prices of new and existing homes in the Fort Smith/Van Buren markets dropped 7.8% and 2.6%, respectively, between Aug. 4 and Jan. 19.

Industry watchers cite two reasons behind the falling average price — price pressures to get homes sold, and more smaller homes built and sold in the market. 

The overall housing market remains week. Regional real estate sales for the first 11 months of 2008 show a 12% decline in the number of homes sold in Sebastian County and a 19.8% decline in Crawford County, according to the Arkansas Realtors Association.

Figures from the ARA show the following:

Fort Smith/Van Buren real estate markets
Average list price of new and existing homes
4 AUG: $203,911
19 JAN: $188,005

Median list price of new and existing homes
4 AUG: $154,000
19 JAN: $149,900

Inventory of new and existing homes
4 AUG: 1,116
19 JAN: 1,070

Statewide, the inventory of new and existing homes dropped from 14,070 in early August to 12,220 by Jan. 19. The more than 13.1% decline in that four-month period is good news for a state working its way through an oversupply of housing.

BUILDING ACTIVITY
Permits to build 12 duplexes at Huntington Chase in Fort Smith provided a big early boost to January building activity. The total value of the permits is $1.6 million. The development, in east Fort Smith near Fort Chaffee, is a Rausch-Coleman development designed to provide housing below $200,000, according to Dave Hughes, executive director of the Greater Fort Smith Association of Home Builders.

All the new duplex permits were issued to Danny Meadows, who has built many duplexes in Fort Smith, Hughes said. Hughes also called Meadows’ duplex construction “a pretty savvy move.”

“As credit tightens, a larger number of families won’t qualify for a home mortgage, so Meadows is providing a new home for them to rent rather than buy,” Hughes explained.  

Such activity will need to be consistent if the region is to overcome a 2008 decline in new construction. The value of new residential and commercial construction in Fort Smith fell 33.2% in 2008 ($66.39 million) when compared to 2007 ($99.51 million).

For the first half of January 2009, the city of Fort Smith issued 145 building permits with a total value of $3.88 million.