Home sales in Arkansas rose 8.5 percent in October compared with October last year, the Arkansas Realtors Association said.
There were 2,967 homes sold in October, 233 more than in October last year and the highest number of October home sales since the association began providing statistics in 2005.
But October typically is one of the slower months of the year, said Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Arkansas Economic Development Institute at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
"In September and October, home sales begin to slow down a little bit," Pakko said.
For most of the year, about 3,000 homes were sold every month, said Mervin Jebaraj, interim director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
Home sales totaled more than 3,000 for the five months previous to October this year, with June the best month of the year with 3,527 homes sold.
There were 508 homes sold in Benton County in October this year, followed by 448 homes sold in Pulaski County and 295 sold in Washington County.
Washington County showed strong growth in October, with 22 percent more homes sold than in the same month a year ago. Home sales were down almost 3 percent in Benton County.
Pulaski County sales were up 8.5 percent, the Realtors association said.
Arkansas is having a modest increase in home sales through the first 10 months of the year, Jebaraj said.
For the first 10 months of the year, home sales totaled 30,130, up 5.6 percent compared with the first 10 months of last year. Benton County led with 5,222 homes sold in the period, followed by 4,634 in Pulaski County and 3,030 homes sold in Washington County.
Only a handful of counties showed declines in home sales in the first 10 months of the year compared with the same period in 2016, Pakko said.
Last year was a banner year for home sales in Northwest Arkansas, Jebaraj said.
"It's hard to keep pace with that forever," he said.
More people are renting in Northwest Arkansas and not as many new homes are being built, Jebaraj said.
"Homeownership in Northwest Arkansas has gone down," Jebaraj said.
One reason fewer homes are being built is because there isn't land available in the subdivisions where people want to live, Jebaraj said.
"There is land available if they are willing to go far enough out," Jebaraj said. "But the amenities that people want are not available there."
October was a "very good month" at Bank of Little Rock Mortgage, said Scott McElmurry, chief executive officer of the firm.
November also was better than normal and business has been good so far in December, too, McElmurry said.
The reasons for the improvement include good weather, the economy and a pent-up demand for new homes from the past few years, McElmurry said.
The interest rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage is about 4 percent, McElmurry said. A 15-year fixed rate mortgage is about 3.5 percent, he said.
Business on 12/12/2017