Northwest Arkansas' housing forecast even pricier in 2023
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Home prices in the Northwest Arkansas metro area are expected to rise 3.7% by October 2023 compared to the same time in 2022, according to data from Zillow.
State of play: Existing home sales nationwide have fallen for nine months as mortgage rates were on the rise. They've been trending down over the past few weeks.
- Meanwhile, interest rates are expected to keep climbing as the Fed works to tamp down inflation.
Why it matters: As prices increase, it becomes more difficult for low- and middle-wage earners to buy a home in the NWA market.
Flashback: According to the September Skyline Report, NWA's home prices were up a whopping 27% in the first half of 2022 — to an average of $385,821 — compared with the same period in 2021.
Yes, but: Price increases have slowed a little in the past few months, Desiree Stock, real estate agent with Collier & Associates, told Axios.
- Based on what she's recently seen in the home market, Stock expects home prices to go up about 5% in NWA next year, a little higher than Zillow's estimate.
- Some locations like downtown Fayetteville or Bentonville, and homes near the Razorback Regional Greenway, may see increases closer to 7-8%, she said.
By the numbers: The five-year, on-the-market home inventory peaked at more than 3,200 in November 2018.
- As of Dec. 3, there were about 1,320 homes on the market, up from about 990 the same week last year.
- The 12-month low was 650 in February.
Meanwhile, Rent Cafe newly ranked the NWA metropolitan area as the No. 1 hottest small rental market in the U.S.
- NWA has a 98.3% occupancy rate with an average of 14 days vacant per rental.
- More than 75% of tenants renewed their leases.
- The data track roughly with the most recent Skyline Report, which showed that the average rent price in NWA as of June 30 was more than $860.