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Fayetteville, AR - Newest Figures for New Home Sales Suggest Market Climb Losing Steam

Posted on: May 07, 2012 09:10:33 AM

In the Fayetteville, AR market, sales of new homes gained year-over-year in February, but the percentage bump was not as steep as January 2012, giving signs of market leveling out. There was a 15.4% hike in new home sales from a year earlier. This followed a 28.1% jump year-over-year in January.

A total of 700 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in February, up from 694 for the year that ended in January.

Of 387 total sales, 45 were of new homes. This is an increase on a percentage basis, as new home sales were 7.1% of total sales a year ago. Sales of new and existing homes declined year-over-year in February after also falling in January year-over-year.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

In February, the average price of newly sold homes rose to $205,114 per unit, a 3.8% rise year-over-year. This is a swing north from the 6.6% decline in January from a year earlier.

Average mortgage size on new homes jumped year-over-year along with new home prices. It jumped 12.7% in February from a year earlier to $203,719. In January 2012, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 9.5% decline from a year earlier. Of the overall sale price, the percentage that was being financed increased 7.8 percentage points year-over-year to 99.3% in February 2012. This came after a 2.7 percentage point decline in January from a year earlier.

Other Market Trends

There was no change in the composition of the new-home market with regard to the types of properties sold in February 2012. Single-family home sales have accounted for all of new home sales while attached unit sales have represented no part of sales.

The average unit size of newly sold homes rose 6.7% year-over-year to 1,799 square feet in February 2012. This rise was somewhat steeper than the price rise, which was also seen in January 2012 when the average size of new homes sold rose 35.0% to 1,481 square feet from a year earlier.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales decreased in February from a year earlier, but remained a drag on the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO sales accounted for 37.1% of existing home sales, down from 64.6% a year earlier. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures fell to 19.6% in February from 28.7% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales sank to 17.5% from 36.0% a year earlier.

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