Arkansas sales up in September

Homes sales in Arkansas increased in September by 9.85 percent when compared to the same month a year ago and the value of houses sold was up, too.

To get your own copy of the September housing market report released today by the Arkansas Realtors® Association, click here for the Excel document and here for the PDF.

Throughout Arkansas, there were 2,298 homes sold in September compared to 2,092 sales in the same month a year ago. September marked only the second month out of the past 44 where sales have been ahead in a month-to-month comparison. The last time we saw a gain in sales was in July.

The total value of new and existing homes sold by Realtors® in September was $324.46 million, up 4.28 percent from $311.16 million in the same month last year. The average sales price fell 5.07 percent to $141,193.

The gains and the drop in average sales prices can be attributed to the first-time home buyer tax credit. Before the new credit was signed into law earlier this month, people were rushing to buy homes throughout September so they could close on them by Nov. 30 — the deadline under the first-time home buyer tax credit before it was extended.

Because first-time home buyers in Arkansas tend to purchase houses that cost around $150,000 or less, the average sales price dropped in September. Realtors® reported homes at that price point were moving out of inventory quickly and the numbers stand as proof of that.

Realtors® have also mentioned healthy sales in October. We’ll have to wait until the numbers are available to see if October was another good month or not, of course, but anecdotal reports have been encouraging.

Retweet this post

One Response to “Arkansas sales up in September”

Arkansas Economist » Arkansas Home Sales | November 19th, 2009 | 20:58

[...] most recent report from the ARA came out earlier this week (November 16). It shows that house prices were up in September over [...]