Home sales in Arkansas rose almost 8 percent in September compared with September last year, the Arkansas Realtors Association said Friday.
Realtors in the state sold 2,525 homes in the 43 counties that report to the association, compared with 2,341 in September last year.
The 8 percent improvement was robust, but considerably less than the 18 percent gain in September last year.
An 8 percent gain over an 18 percent gain last year illustrates solid growth, said Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
"It was another very positive month compared with last year," Pakko said. "And this was the strongest September since 2006, before the recession."
There were more than 2,700 homes sold in September 2006.
The September total was about 200 less than the number of homes sold in August, but home sales typically drop off after the summer months.
The housing market in Arkansas has shown a pretty steady recovery over the past couple of years, Pakko said.
"We are a ways from the robust markets that we had before the recession, but there is a strong case to be made that there was too much activity before the recession [began in 2007]," Pakko said. "We didn't experience a lot of the housing bubble in Arkansas, but it was there."
The state is "fully into a purchase-only market" as opposed to one with numerous refinances, said Scott McElmurry, chief executive officer of Bank of Little Rock Mortgage.
Bank of Little Rock Mortgage typically experiences a slowdown in mortgages in September, McElmurry said.
"But that didn't seem to be the case as much in September," McElmurry said.
Mortgage rates have fallen lately. A customer with good credit can qualify for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage below 4 percent, McElmurry said. On a 15-year mortgage, buyers with good credit can qualify for a rate of 3.125 percent to 3.25 percent.
Pulaski County Realtors sold the most homes, 406, followed by Benton County with 397 and Washington County with 196.
Benton County had the highest average price in September at $198,441, a 10 percent jump compared with September last year. The average home price for the 43 counties was $157,123, up 1.3 percent compared with September last year.
Business on 11/01/2014