FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA / KFTA) – Arvest Bank’s skyline reports on residential and multi-family real estate in northwest Arkansas for the first half of 2021 show low inventory levels and rising prices, suggesting the market is tense to keep up with employment trends – and keep up with population growth.
According to a press release by the bank, there were 154 finished but uninhabited new build apartments for sale at the end of June, the lowest level since 2012, while the number of apartments offered for sale on MLS at 607, the lowest level since 2009.
At the same time, the vacancy rate fell in all major cities in the region, the total vacancy rate was only 3.4%.
The press release states that prices are rising faster than wages due to the limited supply of residential units with high demand.
The average home sales price of Benton and Washington counties rose 16.2% from $ 263,461 to $ 301,236 in the first half of 2020.
The median sales price for a home five years ago was $ 212,323, according to Arvest, up 44.2% over the past five years.
Fayetteville Housing Authority under review by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development
The average rental price for an apartment has increased 5.4% from $ 729.42 to $ 768.48 since the first half of 2020 and has increased 26.4% since 2016 when the average rental price was $ 608.05.
Mervin Jebaraj, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton College of Business, said there were long term housing affordability concerns.
“There are several reasons the Northwest Arkansas region ranks so highly in national polls for the best place to live, and housing affordability is a key factor,” said Jebaraj. “As a region, we have to deal with the fact that housing costs are rising faster than incomes. The housing market across the country is subject to many of these factors, but in northwest Arkansas we are seeing these factors grow at a very rapid pace. A change in local zoning rules could help solve the problem of accelerated land costs, which play an important role in driving up home prices. “
“If you look at the future housing construction pipeline, it’s good to see that building permits have increased significantly, but the supply of available land for new housing is at its lowest level since we measured it in the 2005 Skyline Report cannot find a home to buy that is suitable for their situation, move to apartment buildings with vacancy rates at historically low levels, despite the fact that so many new units have come onto the market in recent years, ”he concluded.
The Arvest Skyline Report is a bi-annual analysis of the latest commercial, single-family and multi-family residential real estate markets in Counties Benton and Washington. The report is sponsored by Arvest Bank and carried out by CBER.
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