Arkansas home sales jumped 14.4 percent in May compared with a year earlier, the 21st straight month that sales have increased, the Arkansas Realtors Association said.
There were 3,344 homes sold in May, up from 2,924 in May 2015. The May total was an increase of more than 560 homes compared with April of this year.
May's report was "incredibly strong," Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said Monday.
The total for home sales was higher than in any month dating back to 2006, Pakko said.
"And we still have June, July and August, which are typically the stronger months of the year," Pakko said. "It may be that we're just seeing activity front-loaded, coming earlier in the year. But it's looking like the trend is still going up."
Growth in home sales is primarily in the metropolitan areas such as Northwest Arkansas and central Arkansas, Pakko said. There is a much slower pace of sales in rural areas, he said.
"There is enough activity going on in those major metropolitan areas that statewide, home sales are pretty strong, up 11 percent [for the first five months of the year]," Pakko said.
More than 12,950 homes sold in the state in the first five months of 2016, an 11 percent increase over about 11,670 homes sold in the first five months of last year.
A strong state economy is the reason for the growth in home sales, Pakko said.
Pulaski County Realtors sold 600 homes in May, the highest total of any county. There were 582 homes sold in Benton County and 330 sold in Washington County in May.
The housing market in Northwest Arkansas is doing well, Pat Harris, chief executive officer with Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney & Faucette Real Estate in Rogers, said Monday.
The success of the bigger employers in Northwest Arkansas is a major reason for the growth, Harris said.
"The market is healthy," Harris said. "But so is Wal-Mart, J.B. Hunt and Tyson [Foods]. That explains it."
Home prices were up 3.4 percent in May, to about $171,900, in the 43-county area surveyed by the association.
Prices in May were up 12.4 percent in Benton County and 8 percent in Washington County, and they were down 2.7 percent in Pulaski County.
For the first five months of the year, home prices rose about 2.3 percent in Pulaski County, about 6.2 percent in Washington County and about 7.5 percent in Benton County.
Mortgage rates are near an all-time low, said Scott McElmurry, chief executive officer of Bank of Little Rock Mortgage.
Rates for a 30-year, fixed-rate conventional loan are ranging between 3.25 percent and 3.375 percent for buyers with good credit, he said.
For a 15-year, fixed-rate loan, rates are in the 2.5 percent to 2.65 percent range, McElmurry said.
"We've been crazy busy," McElmurry said, adding that much of his business is from homeowners refinancing their loans.
For a few days in early 2012, mortgage rates dropped below 3 percent on a 30-year, fixed-rate loan, he said.
"We are certainly approaching that now," McElmurry said.
Business on 07/12/2016