We all know that Northwest Arkansas is in somewhat of an inventory crisis. The clearest path out of our inventory shortage is with new construction housing. National estimates predict that it will take ten years to backfill inventory to meet demand. We in NWA expect efforts to take much longer than ten years. One must consider the land that is available for national builders to develop to increase housing.
When comparing Benton and Washington County, Benton County sold more affordable lots at an average sold price of $95.032 per acre. Washington County came in 2.5 times greater at an average sold price of $270.375 per acre.
Let’s take a look at the four major cities: Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, and Springdale. Bentonville was the most sought-after area for residential lots with 91 days on the market while Fayetteville was close behind with 97 days on the market. Since Bentonville was the most sought-after, it is no wonder it also had the highest price per acre at $560,021. Springdale came in at the second highest price per acre at $233,293, but they also took longer to sell with an average of 143 days on the market.
We also explored the areas that are closer to Highway 49 compared to more rural areas. As you can see from the graph below the properties closer to the highway sold for a much higher price per acre. The closer the land was to Bentonville/Rogers area the higher the price per acre was at $480,201. The Fayetteville/ Springdale area came in a close second at $396,745 per acre.
Benton County currently has 946 active residential land/lots available. Of those, there were 561 lots available in Bella Vista ( Bella Vista has several lots that are not buildable and are for membership purposes only). Washington County has 189 active listings. In 2022, Benton County had the most single-family home permits issued at 5,055, and Washington County issued less than half of that with only 2,165 permits.
In consideration, both Benton and Washington County equal 579 listings excluding Bella Vista, with over 7,000 permits issued in 2022. This potential increase in supply will fall short of the projected demand with the number of new residents moving into our area. In short, more new construction housing needs to be built in order to stabilize prices as well as create home ownership opportunities for a wide range of buyers.
