Arvest Report: Northwest Arkansas home sales slow in second half of 2022

For sale by owner sign is displayed outside home in Northbrook, Ill., Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. (AP/Nam Y. Huh)
For sale by owner sign is displayed outside home in Northbrook, Ill., Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. (AP/Nam Y. Huh)


The housing market in Northwest Arkansas cooled in the second half of 2022, with the number of home sales dropping when compared to the first half of the year, and sale prices flattened.

According to the report sponsored by Arvest Bank, home sales in Benton, Washington and Madison counties dropped to 4,774 in the second half of 2022, from 6,030 when compared to the same period a year ago — a decline of 21%. Sales are down slightly when compared to the first half of the year, or nearly flat at 4,848.

For the first time in several years. housing prices flattened out or even declined in one county when compared to the first half of the year.

In Benton County, the average sale price for the last half of 2022 was $401,075, up 16% from $345,517 for the same period a year ago. But that was down 0.5% from $403,829 for the first half of 2021. 

In Washington County, the average home price was $376,018, up 22% from $311,572 for the second half of 2021 and up 4% from $362,924 for the first half of 2022. 

Madison County’s average sale price for the second half of 2022 was $248,773, up 15% when compared to $216,079 for the same period a year ago, and up 4% when compared to $238,463 for the first half of the year.

“We have been saying for some time that home prices in Northwest Arkansas have needed to stabilize in order for the region to continue to be an attractive and affordable place to call home,” Mervin Jebaraj, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, said in a statement. "I believe that the leveling of price increases are an opportunity for the market to potentially recalibrate at a more sustainable pace.”


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