NWA home sales still down, but November offers encouragement

Home sales through November in Northwest Arkansas’ two most populous counties remain down by double digits, but there is a small sign of optimism.

There were 9,108 homes sold through the first 11 months this year in Benton and Washington counties, down nearly 10.6% from 10,191 homes sold during the same period last year. 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.

However, November’s home sales (694) outnumbered home sales from November 2022 (691). It may be negligible, but that’s the first monthly transaction count this year to reflect an increase in a year-over-year comparison.

The combined sales volume this year through November is also down — $3.73 billion in the first 11 months this year, compared with $3.95 billion in the first 11 months of 2022. That’s a drop of 5.4%.

The NABOR data showed 5,888 home sales worth a combined $2.47 billion in the first 11 months in Benton County. That compares with 6,572 (-10.4%) and $2.63 billion (-6%) in the same period a year ago.

In Washington County, agents sold 3,220 homes in the first 11 months of 2023, down 11% from 3,619 in the same period of 2022, with a combined value of $1.26 billion, down 4.5% from $1.32 billion.

Through November, the median number of days a home spent on the market was 59. That’s up about 28% from the same period last year. The average home sale price through November was $410,549, up nearly 6% from last year.