HSV Real Estate Update for Period Ending 4-30-2024

This report covers the current activities against the same timeframe last year—in this case, April 2023 against April 2024. It also reflects the annual results for 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020. I also break down sales for single-family properties by county and provide some additional granular data based on the current month. This month’s report continues to cover information regarding wire transfer fraud and the NAR lawsuit settlement.

Hot Springs Village

Single Family properties closed in April 2024

• 49 closed in Apr. 2024 – 170 for YTD 2024
• Available for sale = 113 (As of May. 1, 2024)
• Average selling price – $391,461
• Median selling price – $330,000
• Average selling price per square foot – $168.44
• Average days on market – 36
• Under Contract – 30
• Taking Backup Offers – 28

Four (4) of the homes closed in April 2024 were new builds. The selling price of these new home sales was $487,750 or $206.12 per square foot. Upward psf due to one new home sold at $300 psf.

There are 23 new builds in the current MLS inventory of homes available for sale, which represents 20% of the total available.

For the month of April, 49 single-family homes were closed. Of the 49, 28 were closed in Saline County at an average selling price of $465,192 or $188.34 psf. 21 were closed in Garland County at an average selling price of $293,152 or $141.91 psf. Keep in mind that most new builds are closed in Saline County which is a major contributor to the selling price and per square foot (psf).

Single Family properties closed April in 2023

• 34 closed in Apr. 2023 – 158 for YTD 2023
• Average selling price – $368,373
• Median selling price – $315,000
• Average price per square foot – $152.16
• Average days on market 28

State of HSV Market

1) HSV continues to be balanced and holding steady. A balanced market has decent inventory and a healthy number of buyers. However, sales can remain impacted by higher interest rates, and currently it is taking longer for a sale to close.

2) The current selling price to listing price is 97.9%. This would continue to reinforce the concept that most houses are being listed at a price the market accepts. Last year, the percentage was 98%, further indicating a somewhat stable market.

3) 53.1% of the transactions closed in April 2024 were cash transactions, indicating buyers are not being scared off by the increase in interest rates.

4) Affordability of housing in HSV continues to be more favorable at a median of $328,000 vs the national median of $420,321.

5) There is more and more attention being drawn to wire transfer fraud. It has been reported that home buyers and sellers say they are not getting enough information or warnings regarding the risks of wire fraud and other scams targeting real estate transactions, and they want agents to educate them more. Make sure your agent is providing you this information whether you are buying or selling, and further suggest you deal directly with the title yourself when wire transfers are going to be taking place.

6) In 2023, 189 single-family properties were sold in the Village, and through the first 1/3 of this year (2024), there have been 187 units closed.

NOTE: Keep in mind that these numbers only include transactions that have gone through the MLS and as such, will not include those where lot owners have contracted directly with a builder, or someone has sold FSBO.

Condos/Townhome Sales

Ten (10) townhomes were closed in April 2024 at an average selling price of $157,308 or $113.38 psf. There have been 14 fewer townhomes sold in 2024 than were sold in 2023.

Lot Sales

In April, 2024, there were 23 lots closed through the MLS. Last year at this point there had been 62 sold versus the 49 sold YTD 2024.

Information provided comes directly from the MLS (Cooperative Arkansas Realtors MLS – CARMLS) and contains only information from within the Village boundaries. Other sources may be providing their statistics based on zip code and most of them also contain lot and townhome information, which this report breaks out as their own categories. It is also worthy to note these numbers are provided several days after the month has closed which may result in differences down the road due to data not having been updated timely by the real estate community. This report is effective with data available 5/3/2024.

Arkansas Real Estate Market

1. In March 2024, home prices in Arkansas were up 2.6% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $249,400. On average, the number of homes sold was down 8.9% year over year.
2. The median selling price for Arkansas was $249,400 compared to $330,000 in Hot Springs Village.
3. The average months of supply is three months, up 0% year over year. This compares to HSV where inventory is currently slightly over two months.
4. The upcoming NAR settlement will have minimal impact on Arkansas other than creating a little more paperwork. The requirements coming out of the settlement have been in place in Arkansas for quite some time, but with most settlement agreements, additional paperwork will be involved to ensure that processes remain consistent across the US.

National Real Estate Market

1. U.S. home prices were up 4.8% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $420,321. On average, the number of homes sold was down 9.52% year over year, and there were 407,710 homes sold in March this year, down 450,618 homes sold in March last year.
2. The national average 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate is at 6.8% and up 0.3 points year over year.
3. The National Association of REALTORS® announced new details regarding the practice changes required for NAR members under the proposed settlement agreement. These practice changes resulted in revisions to the MLS policy handbook and will go into effect on Aug. 17.
4. Pending home sales kicked off the spring season with a strong start, but challenges for the homebuying market remain, new NAR data shows. Pending home sales increased in March, reaching their highest level of the year so far, while new-home sales also rose last month. But with mortgage rates now in the 7% range, which could scare home buyers moving forward.
   

The NAR Settlement Proposal may be as clear as mud to some, so feel free to reach out to me at lloydhsv@gmail.com or 501-204-2770 if I can answer any questions for you. However, Arkansas has been following procedures intended to be corrected with the lawsuit and its impact on Arkansas agents is minimal.

For disclosure purposes, I am a Realtor® and the numbers reported here come directly from the MLS.

By Lloyd Sherman, Associate Broker, Trademark HSV Real Estate

Lloyd Sherman

Author & Real Estate Agent
Email: lloydhsv@gmail.com