Popular areas for SFH investors in NWA

[Jennifer Schelkopf]

Are you wondering which areas of Northwest Arkansas you should invest in? Me too!

To help answer this question, I wanted to know the areas where other investors are buying. I thought others might appreciate seeing what I found.

I looked at non-owner occupied SFH sales data over the past 3 months and found:

* Fayetteville had the most sales, but 72730 (Farmington area) had significantly less sales than other zip codes in Fayetteville

* Springdale was the second most popular, followed by Rogers, Bentonville, and Bella Vista

* 72764, the Springdale area east of W. End St (which includes part of Beaver Lake), had significantly more sales than 72762 (west of W. End St)

* The 72756 zip code (northern Rogers, including Downtown) had significantly more sales than 72758 (southern Rogers, including the areas around Mercy and Pinnacle Hills Promenade)

Raw data:

ZIP Code	County	Population	City	SFH Sales
72712	Benton	40,933	Bentonville	73
72756	Benton	38,455	Rogers	45
72701	Washington	39,782	Fayetteville	37
72703	Washington	28,261	Fayetteville	35
72758	Benton	33,487	Rogers	35
72762	Washington	35,342	Springdale	33
72715	Benton	15,051	Bella Vista	32
72704	Washington	21,336	Fayetteville	31
72714	Benton	11,880	Bella Vista	29
72764	Washington	50,230	Springdale	27
72764	Washington	50,230	Springdale	27
72745	Benton	11,376	Lowell	12
72719	Benton	8,975	Centerton	11
72730	Washington	7,585	Fayetteville	9
72718	Benton	1,465	Cave Springs	8

Pretty graphs:

I am not a real estate agent, and I don't have access to MLS. I used ListSource to pull this data, as recommended in the book "Finding and Funding Great Deals" by Anson Young.

For those of you who are familiar with Northwest Arkansas, was there anything that surprised you about this?

[Ryan Blackstone]

@Jennifer Schelkopf The main demand that is driving people out there is 1. utility accessibility. You really couldn't build before they figured out the sewer STEP system. 2. Accessibility to the city and the airport. Most people that live and cave springs I believe are those who are white collar and fly out on a weekly basis. The reason I think SFH and MFH are good there, is because there is such a demand to be there, and no supply. Even big SFH builders who sell an affordable house are making more money there, than in other areas in NWA. This is just due to the high demand. I see it as being a great place for people who work here for 3 years and then are going to move to a new job and get promoted. So, they will be more likely to rent. I think rent-o-meter data is good it just doesn't show the absence of data not there. The spike in the data is probably because all of those houses are big houses like you said. Bentonville doesn't make sense to me.... it should have the highest rent rates.... but it doesn't... However, I think it has the greatest future potential.