NEW STATS for February in NWA!! 📈
As is typical, February saw a slight uptick in activity from January. Last month was the highest total dollars in of residential real estate sold in Benton & Washington counties for any February. The last record high was in February 2022 that was $35M less than February 2026 (almost a 12% increase). February was also the 3rd highest total properties sold by count compared to prior February.
Currently we’re still in a solid seller’s market as indicated by the ratio of sales price to original list price at 98% (seller not having to reduce the price a lot to find a buyer) and the months of inventory at 6, down one from last month (a MOI around 12 is a rough rule of thumb for a transition to a buyer’s market.)
The one thing I think is interesting is new listings, active listings, and expired listings are all up double-digit percentage from the same time last year. Meaning there is more seller activity across the board. Active listings was a record high for February. In fact, this is the only time any February has been over 4,000 active listings; and is the 6th highest active listings for any month in NWA. New listings also hit a new high for any February in NWA; 30% higher than the last record high in new listings in any month of February (Feb 2016). In part these record highs are indications of how much NWA has grown over the years, but it could also be a subtle signal of shifts in the market. We will keep watching these closely no matter what.