Arkansas home sales in August top 3,400

DAVID SMITH

More than 3,400 homes were sold in Arkansas in August, the highest total for August since 2006, the Arkansas Realtors Association said Monday.

There were 3,383 homes sold in August 2006, said Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Arkansas Economic Development Institute at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. That was before the recession when home sales dropped dramatically, Pakko noted.

“We’re pretty much back on pace where we were before the great recession,” Pakko said of the downturn that ended in June 2009.

Every month, the Realtors association surveys homes sold in 43 of the state’s 75 counties, generally the state’s 43 largest counties.

The three counties with the most homes sold in August were Benton, Pulaski and Washington counties, the Realtors association said. Those counties recorded slight decreases or increases in sales compared with August last year.

“Of course, we have regional differences in the state,” Pakko said. “In Northwest Arkansas, both the economy and the housing market are quite strong and in some other parts of the state it’s quite the opposite story.”

The state’s housing market is still growing, although not at

the pace of previous years, said Mervin Jebaraj, interim director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

“We’re still selling more homes on a month to month basis and even on an annual basis, but not as fast as the growth we had in 2016,” Jebaraj said.

One reason, he said, is because people were anticipating rising mortgage rates, even though that hasn’t happened this year.

“That might have pushed off people’s home buying decisions,” Jebaraj said. “And a

lot of people who could afford to buy a house had already bought a house.”

Rates for 30-year mortgages are in the high 3 percent range, said Scott McElmurry, chief executive officer of Bank of Little Rock Mortgage. A 15-year mortgage runs about 3.25 percent, McElmurry said.

Nationally, sales of previously owned homes were down 1.7 percent in August, a decline for the fourth time in five months, as strained supply levels continued to subdue overall activity, the National Association of Realtors said.

Sales in August were down to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million homes sold, the national association said.

“What’s ailing the housing

market and continues to weigh on overall sales is the inadequate levels of available inventory and the upward pressure it’s putting on prices in several parts of the country,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the national association. “Sales have been unable to break out because there are simply not enough homes for sale.”

Sales in Arkansas for the first eight months of the year totaled 23,958, up 4.7 percent through August last year, the state association said.

“Home sales are still up for the year,” Pakko said. “And having increased so far the previous three or four years, that’s somewhat impressive that we’re still seeing continued increases.”