By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Home sales in Arkansas were 14.2 percent higher in May than a year earlier, the Arkansas Realtors Association reported today.
Across the state, 2,524 homes sold in May compared to 2,211 the previous May. The increase was thanks to a rush to claim tax credits for first-time and repeat home buyers, according to the Realtors group.
“The Arkansas Realtors Association’s monthly report counts how many homes were closed in a given month rather than how many were put under contract. Under the terms of the tax credit for first-time and repeat home buyers, people were required to get a home under contract before May 1 and close on it before July 1,” said Ethan Nobles, spokesman for the group.
Nobles predicted that the report for June would also show an increase in sales over last year because of the deadline for the tax credit. An extension of the deadline approved by Congress this week should boost sales for July, August and September as well, he said.
The average sale price across the state in May was $149,382, down slightly from $149,454 a year ago.
Of the 41 counties included in the report, Pulaski County had the most homes sales in May with 458, followed by Benton County with 325, Washington County with 229, Faulkner County with 153, Saline County with 152 and Sebastian County with 144.
Jefferson County was 15th with 46 home sales in May.
Between January and May, Pulaski County had the most home sales with 1,822, followed by Benton County with 1,300, Washington County with 841, Saline County with 640 and Sebastian and Faulkner counties with 538 each.
Jefferson County was 17th with 169 homes sold for the year to date.
Cleburne County had the highest average sale price in May of $234,806, up 61 percent from May 2009. Next were Carroll County, up 47 percent; Benton County, up 3 percent; Pulaski County, down 9 percent; and Washington County, up 6 percent.
Sebastian County was 11th with an average price in May of $138,655, up 18 percent from a year earlier. Jefferson County was 24th with an average price of $101,014, down 13 percent from a year earlier.
Nobles said that as recently as four years ago, the housing market in Northwest Arkansas was growing much faster than in areas like Fort Smith and Pine Bluff, but the rate of growth is now comparable across the state.
“Hopefully that will result in a more stable housing market,” he said. “We might not see values going up 8, 9, 10, 11 percent every year, but we will see some gradual appreciation, which is what we do like to see in Arkansas.”
Nobles also said that in the current economic climate, there are advantages to declining home prices.
“What is going to motivate people to buy houses again is, let’s face it, low prices,” he said. “We’ve seen that time and time again. We’re looking at pure economics here: We have an abundance of inventory pretty much everywhere. How do you get rid of that inventory? You drop the price on it.”
