All Forum Posts by: Mark Rogers

The numbers on SFR in Pulaski County have trended toward softness over the last 3 weeks but are still buoyed by low inventory.

It's MLS data.

Inventory of Pulaski County real estate (single family residential) is still crazy low, with a 1.5 month supply. Last week there were 73 sales at 98.5% of list price with median days on market of 15 days. By comparison, this week in 2019 had 120 sales at 98.1% of list price with median days on market of 28. With inventories so low, we decided to list one of the properties that we originally planned on keeping as a rental. We received an offer at list price within about 3 hours.

Comparing sales volumes for Pulaski County the last 10 weeks of 2020 (in blue) to 2019 (in orange) paints an interesting story of an interest rate peak and a coronavirus trough. Week 1 (on the left) is this past week and week 10 (on the right) is the last week of January.

Executive Order 20-12 allowing virtual notarization became effective yesterday, March 30, 2020. https://governor.arkansas.gov/.../executi.../EO_20-12.__.pdf

Pulaski County real estate posted an interesting week. Volume dropped dramatically from last year, but low inventory bolstered sales prices and kept days on market low. Comparing the current numbers to 2019, from March 23-29, 2019 there were 134 sales, at a median sales price of 96.9% of list price with a median days on market of 22.5. By comparison, during the last 7 days, there have been 50 sales, at a median sales price of 100% of list price with a median days on market of 13.5. Inventory remains below 2 months, even with the low sales volume. That's consistent with anecdotal evidence that we're hearing from agents, title companies, and loan officers that demand still far exceeds supply. 

In good news to help with real estate transactions and wills while we're practicing social distancing, watch for an Executive Order soon from Governor Hutchinson to allow "virtual notarization" and "virtual witnessing" of legal documents. A specialty section of the Arkansas Bar circulated a draft of the order on Friday with an indication that we should move quickly if we had any suggested changes before it was implemented. Many States already allow them, but Arkansas has not done that yet, so the Governor's Executive Order will allow it temporarily.  Hopefully, we'll implement legislation to keep it in place after the emergency passes.

@Dustin Rose, Hi Dustin, I would like more information on the property as well, thanks.

It's the Federal Housing Finance Agency's House Price Index.  Here's a copy and paste from their site on how it's calculated:

The FHFA HPI is a broad measure of the movement of single-family house prices. The FHFA HPI is a weighted, repeat-sales index, meaning that it measures average price changes in repeat sales or refinancings on the same properties. This information is obtained by reviewing repeat mortgage transactions on single-family properties whose mortgages have been purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac since January 1975.

Q4 numbers are out, and most of Arkansas continued to earn its slow and steady reputation. The big winner for the year was Texarkana at 12.1% growth for 2019. The slowest growth was Pine Bluff at 2.2% for the year. Central Arkansas posted gains in all 4 quarters but still finished next to last in the State at 3.6% growth. NWA had a solid 5.7% for 2019.