Houses selling fast, prices rising
■ The current inventory has enough homes for 2.2 months of sales.
In terms of homes, Bella Vista is a seller’s market right now.
Linda Lloyd, principal broker for Acorn Realty, said that demand is high because Bella Vista is a great place to live.
Low interest rates, she said, also help to get homes sold, which in turn is keeping supplies low, prices high and sales quick, she said.
“The supply and demand puts increased pressure on prices,” Lloyd said, “so prices will continue to go up as long as interest rates stay reasonable.”
Even the year-to-year growth, she said, is substantial just in the past few years. For instance, home sales in 2016 are up to 1,046, compared to 785 in 2013, an increase of roughly 33 percent in 4 years, according to Northwest Arkansas Board of Realtors MLS data Lloyd has compiled.
It’s important to note, Lloyd said, that because this data is generated by real estate agents, properties sold by owner will not show up. However, she said, additional activity would likely suggest the market is more intense. Prices are also increasing. Average sales in 2013 came in at $152,391, averaging $74-persquare-foot, while sales in 2016 averaged $176,041, $85-persquare-foot. Moreover, Lloyd said, the number of homes selling below $100,000 is shrinking each year, down from 196 in 2013 to 138 in 2016. The $200,000 to $300,000 market is growing most rapidly, shifting from 117 in 2013 to 201 in 2016, but $500,000 and up seems to be a growing market as well. In 2013, four homes sold at more than $500,000, but in 2016 that number increased fourfold to 16.
Even more drastic was a shift in the number of days a house spends on the market. In 2013, the average home took 135 days to sell. After steady shrinkage each year, that dropped to 81 days in 2016. That’s a decrease of 40 percent in the typical time it takes to sell a home in Bella Vista over the course of four years.
“I’ve had some sellers complain that we sold their home too quickly,” Lloyd said.
Assuming homes stay on the market the same as last year’s average, she said, Bella Vista has enough homes for sale to last only 2.2 months.
Though, on the bright side, she said, the fast-moving market is also attracting builders, who can be fairly confident the homes they build are going to sell.
As of last week, there were 22 new homes for sale, she said, with a median price of $222,000, and new homes average $177-per-square-foot.
While operating in a hot market may have its benefits, she said, it can make things especially difficult on the buying end.
“It used to be I could show someone five or six houses,” Lloyd said. “But now if they wait and go back to a house, it’s proba-
bly gone.”
Homes are selling quickly enough, she said, that anyone interested needs to be prequalified and ready to make a decision.
Lloyd said she meets people who are relocating frequently, and often once someone makes it out to Bella Vista, they like it.
Erik and Carol Seliak, a retired couple that just sold their home in Anglewood, Fla., checked out Bella Vista a couple weeks ago, staying at a Vacation Rental home while they got a feel for the city.
“We have no home to go to,” Carol Seliak said. “We’re on the road looking for the perfect place to live.”
Bella Vista, she said, was a contender, thanks in no small part to the natural
beauty woven into the city. The friendly locals, she said, are a plus. If they don’t return to find a home, she said, they’ll surely be back to vacation.
They’ve focused their search in this part of the country, she said, because they want to be closer to family members in Missouri.
Travis Stephens, Economic Development manager for the city, said it’s important that more houses get built. Without them, he said, it’s going to be hard for the city to have enough homes to meet the market’s demands as more and more people move into the area.
“We’re getting a healthy mix of retirees, empty-nesters and young families, moving into Bella
Vista,” he said.
With the number of people moving into the Northwest Arkansas area, Lloyd said, it’s no surprise homes in Bella Vista, often more affordable than those in Rogers or Bentonville, are selling quickly.
But people are also attracted to the city for what it offers, she said. There are affordable properties in Pea Ridge and Centerton, for instance, but those cities are no Bella Vista.
“There’s really no comparison,” Lloyd said. “It offers trees and amenities, all of those other things at the same price.”
The Seliaks checked out of their Vacation Rental Feb. 19, enjoying the unseasonable sunshine be-
fore they got ready to hit the road once more and check out their next potential hometown.
“Part of me wants to leave,” Carol Seliak said, “and part of me wants to just say stay.”