Just this morning, we at the Arkansas Realtors® Association released the July housing market report and are pleased with the results.

Why? There were 2,574 homes sold in July — up 1.58 percent from 2,534 sales in July 2008. While that’s not a huge increase it’s the first month-to-month gain we’ve seen since December 2005. That, folks, is good news.

What’s driving the gains? We’re pretty confident that a lot of the increased sales activity is directly related to the first-time home buyer tax credit. That credit, of course, expires after Nov. 30 and the National Association of Realtors® is pushing for an extension and expansion of the credit. You can read about that effort by clicking here. If you’d like to get a copy of the July housing market report, just click here.

All that activity from first-time home buyers has contributed to a decline in average list prices. Foreclosures, of course, have played a role in that drop, too. Still, the declines aren’t that bad, really. In July, the average price of a home sold by a Reatlor® in Arkansas was $153,047 — down 2.62 percent from $157,157 in the same month a year ago.

First time home buyers in the Natural State are generally shopping in the $140,000 and below price range, meaning we’ve got a lot of those mid-priced homes selling and that is pulling down average sales prices a bit. Another thing to keep in mind is that there is still some downward pressure on prices, but sellers in this state are — on average — realizing 95 percent to 97 percent of their list prices.

While we certainly hope that the July report marks the start of a trend, there are still a number of factors to consider. Will the current tax credit be extended or expanded to include anyone purchasing a primary residence? Will we see a new tax credit for buyers at all? How will sales fare in the fall?

In spite of all the questions about what might happen in the future, the July report is certainly encouraging. We at the Arkansas Realtors® Association hope to report on continued improvements when we release the market reports for August and September.