Residential
Sales in Garland County, AR
(information
obtained from the Hot Springs Board of Realtors mls)
Average
Days on Market
1/1/11 –
1/31/11: 174
1/1/12 –
1/31/12: 172
Number of Listings Sold
1/1/11 –
1/31/11: 63
1/1/12 –
1/31/12:
68
Average Price of Sold Listings
1/1/11 –
1/31/11: $160,223
1/1/12 –
1/31/12:
$122,824
Percentage of listings that Sold
1/1/11 –
1/31/11: 27%
1/1/12 –
1/31/12: 28%
MLS Sold Volume
1/1/11 –
1/31/11: $10,094,089
1/1/12 –
1/31/12: $
8,352,040
(Click here for a more detailed report of the
current market in Garland County, AR)
While the
numbers reflect a little slower start as compared to last year for the Hot
Springs area, we are seeing many positive signs indicative of a growing economy
in Hot Springs. The infrastructure
of Hot Springs is still on the move with the expansion of the highways, i.e.
the Highway 70 West expansion and the south leg of Higdon Ferry expansion are
both now complete and are attracting new commercial and residential building sites. Other local projects are on the rise
and stirring a lot of interest and growth with the north leg of Higdon Ferry,
the south end of Highway 7, and the north leg of Highway 270 all under
construction, and Highway 70 East just met state planning approval for
expansion as reported by the Arkansas Democrat earlier this week. These are all great signs of growth in
our area.
We think
this year might be the one in which the housing market starts to strengthen,
according to the 2012 predictions of several housing industry observers and
experts across the U.S.
Jed
Kolko, chief economist at Trulia.com, a real estate search and research
website, says he sees rising rents, a humble recovery in housing prices and
even some unexpected "hot" spots where he thinks price increases will
exceed the average this year.
Kolko said
his predictions are based on 14 months of U.S. job gains and the assumption
that "there's no big crisis in 2012."
He also
sees shrinking mortgage delinquencies in 2012, though foreclosures will rise as
old delinquencies exit the paperwork pipeline.
Increasing
demand for rental properties should mean higher rents, he added, but should
also spark new construction to keep up with demand.
Mortgage
rates should rise a bit, too, said Kolko; calling that a sign of economic
strengthening. "Higher rates for a reason we can cheer," he said.
Rich
Arzaga, founder and CEO of Cornerstone Wealth Management in San Ramon,
California and an adjunct professor in personal finance at the University of
California at Berkeley also agrees with Kolko about the rentals. "This was
going to happen even without foreclosures. If you look at the statistics on
homeownership, it shows that people are buying homes later in life, and that
the echo boomers will drive rentals for a longer period of time."
Jeffrey
Rogers, president of Integra Realty Resources, a New York-based real estate
valuation and consulting firm, also agreed with Kolko's assessment of the
rental market: Multifamily units - that is, building with five or more units -
"are one of the property types that still received funding for new
projects throughout the downturn." (See
full article here)
Putting
the market recovery in terms of graph curves … It doesn’t seem to be a U-shaped recovery and it’s definitely
not V-shaped. We believe it’s more
of a 'Nike swoosh recovery,' where it goes down fast and then goes up very
gradually.
What are
your predictions for 2012?