HSV Real Estate Update for Period Ending 10/31/2024

By Lloyd Sherman, Associate Broker, Trademark HSV Real Estate

This report covers the current activities against the same timeframe last year. In this case, October 2023 against October 2024. It also reflects the annual results for 2023, 2022, 2021, & 2020. Current month sales are also broken down for single-family properties by county with some additional granular data.

Hot Springs Village

Single Family properties closed in October 2024

• 46 closed in October 2024 – 443 for YTD 2024
• Available for sale = 136 (As of November 1, 2024)
• Average selling price – $382,309
• Median selling price – $349,450
• Average selling price per square foot – $162.65
• Average days on the market – 35
• Under Contract – 51
• Taking Backup Offers – 27

Four (4) of the homes closed in October 2024 were new builds. The selling price of these new home sales was $431,309 or $220.88 per square foot.
There are 18 new builds in the current MLS inventory of homes available for sale,  representing 13.2% of the total inventory.

For the month of October 2024, 46 single-family homes were closed. Of the 46, 31 were closed in Saline County at an average selling price of $435,335 or $173.30 psf. Of the 46, 15 were closed in Garland County at an average selling price of $260,633 or $138.87 psf.

Single Family properties closed October in 2023

• 45 closed in October 2023 – 468 for YTD 2023
• Average selling price – $366,752
• Median selling price – $299,000
• Average price per square foot – $161.21
• Average days on market 30

State of HSV Market

1) The HSV market rebounded slightly in October, but continues to show reduced closing rates, down year-over-year by 7.5%. Current active listings show an average of 71 Days on Market (DOM’s), up from 68 days in September. Between single-family and townhomes, 38 fewer properties have been closed in 2024 vs. 2023. The other factor that deserves attention however, is that between 2022 YTD compared to 2024 YTD, the number of properties closed is down 123 or 24.2%.

2) While the houses that are being closed have an average days on market of 35, 67% of current active listings have been on the market for 30 days or more, while 45% are reflecting 60 days or more days on the market.

3) Current selling prices to listing prices continue at 97.4%, vs 98.5% year-over-year. An increasing and aging inventory doesn’t bode well and further supports the market conditions, currently being explained by national sources as “wait and see”.

4) Affordability of housing in HSV continues to be more favorable at a median of  $349,450 vs the national median of $427,496, but higher than the median for Arkansas at $256,400.

5) Of the 46 single-family properties sold in September 2024, 21 were cash sales or 45.7%. On a YTD 2024 basis 201 of the total 443 sold were cash transactions or 45.4%.

6) Of some concern to this author is in the area of Properties Subject to Assessments. The table below will address why the concern exists. As can be clearly seen, we have 951 fewer unimproved lots in Good Standing in 2024 against 2023, while improved lots have only increased by 10. When you combine this information with a decline in properties closed since 2022, it seems to indicate that much more analysis should be done to determine what the long-term impact of these figures indicate.

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

Eight (8) townhomes were closed in October, 2024 at an average selling price of $139,362 or $108.48. There have been 16 fewer townhomes sold in 2024 than were sold in 2023.

Lot Sales

In October, 2024, there were 13 lots closed through the MLS. Lot sales for 2024 is at 152 versus the same period last year when sales were at 240.

Information provided comes directly from the MLS (Cooperative Arkansas Realtors MLS – CARMLS) and contains only information from within the Village’s gated 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 11/3/2024.

Arkansas Real Estate Market

1. In September 2024, home prices in Arkansas were up 2.0% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $256,400. On average, the number of homes sold was up 2.3% year over year. While the number of homes sold in Arkansas rose this year, the number sold in HSV has declined 5.6%.
2. The median selling price for Arkansas was $256,400 compared to $349,450 in Hot Springs Village.

National Real Estate Market

1. U.S. home prices were up 3.8% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $427,496. On average, the number of homes sold was down 3.9% year over year, compared to down 5.6% in Hot Springs Village.
2. 28.5% of homes in the U.S. sold above list price, down 4.7 points year over year. There were only 20.0% of homes that had price drops, up from 17.0% of homes in September last year. There was a 99.0% sale-to-list price, down 0.49 points year over year.
3. The national average for a 30-year fixed mortgage is 6.2%, down 1.0% year over year.

The NAR Settlement Implementation

• I wrote an article with explanations of how the new national real estate laws will impact both buyers and sellers. You can access that article at https://hsvgazette.com/understanding-the-nar-settlement-for-sellers-and-buyers/

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

Lloyd Sherman

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