Numbers on the up : Some say 2008 home-sale statistics are surprising
Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008
BENTON COUNTY - There are still plenty of "for sale"signs in the yards of both existing and new construction homes across Benton County. That hasn't changed and, odds are, it will be awhile before the oversupply evaporates.
But with all the doom and gloom that people across the country have been feeling about the housing market during this ongoing period of economic instability, the numbers in Benton County in 2008 may be providing a glimmer of hope - or even better.
"I have people I know come up to me and say, ' Nicky, how are you doing ? Are you going to be OK ?'"said Nicky Dou, a real estate agent with the Coldwell Banker-Faucette office in Rogers. "They hear the news and they wonder if real estate agents are going to make it through. So they're surprised when I tell them I have more pending sales right now than I had in all of 2007."
With recent reports showing that the sale of new homes across the country dipped another 8 percent in March, accounting for the lowest level seen in more than 16 years, it's easy to assume Dou may be an exception. And while some area agents may still be feeling the crunch, many will tell you northwest Arkansas may be showing a different story, particularly of late.
Follow Natalie Edwards, senior vice president of the Harris McHaney Realtors office in Bentonville, around for a day, and it becomes obvious she's doing anything but sitting behind a desk, tapping her pencil and waiting for the phone to ring.
"It's kind of funny because if I take too long to return a phone call, the person on the other end will be surprised when I tell them I apologize, but I've been absolutely swamped," Edwards said. "They always respond with, ' What ? ' They just assume there's nothing going on, but even with last year being a down year, I look at my numbers and I can't say it was a bad year."
And the number of homes sold or under contract in just the first four months of 2008 may surprise residents. According to statistics provided by the Multiple Listing Service, as of Thursday, 158 homes had sold in Bentonville, 193 in Bella Vista and 234 in Rogers. What Edwards, Dou and others believe is even more telling of the market is the fact that another 137 homes listed for sale in Bentonville, 120 in Bella Vista and 207 in Rogers are under contract and nearing closure.
"That's big," Edwards said. "That says something. Some of those'under contract' statistics are as good as you would have seen them in 2005. It's cyclical. Whenever you experience the kind of growth we were seeing in this area, you're setting yourself up for a crash. But Benton County has such a stable employer base and some other factors going for it that we never completely crashed. Overbuilding, yes, but the real estate market never crashed."
Glenn Allen "Bear"Chaney, who runs Chaney Appraisal Service in Bentonville, will second that.
"Things have slowed some - anyone knows that," Chaney said. "But people are still refinancing their homes, buying new homes in a lot of price ranges, and I'm keeping plenty busy with appraisals. The number of pending and under-contract sales are getting back up there. I've seen it published several times where this region is the 25 th to 27 th fastest-growing in the country. You have to have some activity to rank that high."
While many real estate agents, appraisers and others in the industry are encouraged by the numbers and the number of deals being closed, there are those who continue to struggle through the economic roller-coaster ride of late - even in Benton County. Several builders and developers have filed for bankruptcy, banks have tightened their lending philosophies, and landscapers and subcontractors are seeing considerably less work as new construction has slowed to a crawl.
That, Edwards believes, is part of the corrective period that's taking place following a building boom in which more builders, banks, contractors and subcontractors emerged in Benton County than ever before. Those attempting to sell their homes are having to take price reductions, bringing down the average price of a home sale. And despite the encouraging numbers of late, many sellers are still having to wait several months to get a bite, as buyers have so many options with the current oversupply. But many in the real estate business suggest it will benefit the overall market in the end.
"Greed had a lot to do with the oversupply we accumulated," Edwards said. "I really don't think we'll ever be overbuilt like this again. There just wasn't any sharing of information before. Similar subdivisions were being built across the street from one another because no one wanted to share information. Everyone thought what they had was best."
"Last year, there were a lot of people on the fence, a little nervous about buying with all the reports that were out there," Dou said. "A lot of those people have come off the fence in 2008. The numbers show that."
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