Skyline Report: Residential Permits Down But Value Up in 2014’s Second Half

Kathy Deck

The number of residential building permits issued in northwest Arkansas fell in the second half of 2014 compared with the same time in 2013, but the value of those permits increased, according to the most recent Arvest Bank Skyline Report, released Thursday.

The report showed 1,048 building permits issued in Benton (628) and Washington (420) counties from July to December in 2014, down 4 percent from the 1,094 building permits issued during the same period of 2013. That number was also down 11 percent from the 1,183 building permits issued from January to June 2014. 

But the average value of all building permits in the two counties increased. From July to December 2014, the average value was $248,080, up 3 percent from $236,731 in the same time period of 2013, and up 5 percent from $235,101 rom January to June 2014.

More: Download a summary of the report (.doc) and highlights of the report (PDF).

“We see a good level of activity everywhere throughout the market,” Kathy Deck, the report’s lead researcher at the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. 

“Even though the number of building permits is down a little bit, we make up for it in the overall economic expansion,” she said. “We had gotten down to a place where completed inventory was depleted. Our inventory numbers are now more consistent with the expansion we are seeing in the recovery.”

The report said 3,691 existing homes were sold in Benton and Washington counties during the last six months of the year, up 8 percent from the 3,407 sold during the same time in 2013.

The sold price of existing houses were mixed. The average sold price of Benton County homes was $203,419, up 8 percent from the first half of 2014. In Washington County, the average price was $178,774, down about 3 percent from the first half of 2014.

But home values, as measured by the average cost per square foot of existing homes, increased nearly 5 percent from the first half of the year in Benton County to $88.61. In Washington County, the average cost was $89.30, up 0.1 percent from the the first half of the year.

The Arvest Skyline Report is a biannual analysis of the latest commercial, single-family residential and multifamily residential property markets in Benton and Washington counties. The report is sponsored by Arvest Bank and conducted by the CBER in the UA’s Walton College of Business.