President's Message
January 27 - February 2, 2014
It’s great to get some good news about real estate, isn’t it?
Kathy Deck, an economist and director of the Center for Business and Economic Development at the University of Arkansas, said housing markets throughout the state have improved over the past couple of years and expects things to improve this year.
She pointed out that average sales prices are at record highs and the numbers of homes sold makes it clear that we’re at “pre-recession” levels. How were things in our local markets last year?
In Saline County, Realtors sold 1,570 homes last year – an increase of 13.44 percent over 2012 – and average sales prices were up 2.18 percent at $173,074. In Grant County, sales were up 9.52 percent with 115 homes sold while average prices were up 10.46 percent at $142,360. In Hot Spring County, sales were up 15.44 percent with 157 homes sold but average sales prices were down 11.64 percent at $93,076.
We’re looking at those three counties, of course, as those are the areas where the Benton-Bryant Realtors Association has jurisdiction. If we look at those three counties as a whole, sales were up 13.35 percent at 1,842 homes and average sales prices were up 1.82 percent at $164,228.
Here’s something else to think about – in Saline County, buyers got 97.35 percent of their asking prices and that number is better than it has been in years. Buyers didn’t have to wait as long to get their money, either – the average time a home spent on the market last year was 76 days and that’s an improvement from 88 days in 2012.
Let’s not forget that inventories are lower than they have been in years and we’ve not seen that happen for a long time.
Why were sales up last year? Deck said there were a number of contributing factors. For one thing, interest rates remained low throughout 2013 and buyers discovered they could get more bang than they could in an environment where rates are climbing. Also, Deck said consumer confidence is up in spite of the fact unemployment rates didn’t go down as much as economists would like. Finally, Deck said there was a lot of pent up demand because buyers just got tired of waiting to purchase homes.
Deck said to watch out for interest rates in 2014, though. Those are expected to go up this year. It’s not a bad idea, then, to tell potential buyers they’d better get in the market when their dollars might go farther than they will later in the year.
In spite of some foreseeable headwinds such as rising interest rates, Deck said to expect moderate improvement in sales in 2014.
Meanwhile, we’re hoping to see some growth in an effort near and dear to us – raising money for Special Olympics Arkansas. Thanks in large part to a trivia night the board hosted last year, the Benton-Bryant Realtors Association was presented with an award from the Arkansas Realtors Association for posting an “extraordinary increase” in fundraising.
Look for at least one more trivia night this year, and let’s make it an even bigger success.
Doug Robinson, BBRA President
