🏠💎 New Homebuyers Lean into Luxury in Benton County

🏡 Key Highlights

• New Home Prices: +12.4% YoY (median $389,868)

• Existing Home Prices: +2.0% YoY (median $382,500)

• Residential Homes Sold: -0.8% YoY (509 vs. 513)

Allegiance Market Overview

Benton County home sales were effectively flat year over year, but the composition of demand is changing. Builders are pushing up-market, driving double-digit price gains in new construction while existing home prices remain stable.

Next week we’ll break down Washington County data where sales trends are softer.

🏠 Existing Home Sales

• 🏡 Volume – Slight -2.7% decrease in existing home sales but volumes are still healthy.

• 💰 Prices – Median price up +2%. This price growth is in line with what is going on nationally.

🏗️New Home Sales

• 💵 Median Prices Hit Record Highs - Median new home prices continue to climb. The driving force behind the double-digit increases is builders shifting to a higher end market. One large builder is selling homes at an average price north of $900,000 per home.

• 📈 Activity Levels - New home sales increased +4.3% YoY. 

Mortgage Activity

• 📈 Upward Trends - Mortgage filings +10.4% YoY, the strongest pace in several months.

• 💰 30 Year Mortgage - The average 30 year is 6.22%.

• 🏛️💵 10-Year Treasury Yield - The 10 year rate is 4.12% and has traded in a very tight range since the last Fed decision.

📰Closing & Market News

🏛️ Fed Chair Decision - Kevin Hassett continues to be the front-runner but a new Kevin has emerged. Kevin Warsh served as a Fed Governor from 2006-2011 and has been vocal in his criticism of the Fed. Warsh’s vision is to get the Fed out of politics, safeguard the value of the dollar, and calm any potential financial panics. Trump has indicated a decision will come in early 2026.

💼Jobs Report - Payrolls dropped -105,000 in October then rose by +64,000 in November. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.6%. The weakness in October was likely tied to the government shutdown. A slowing job market and cooling inflation will make Fed rate cuts easier assuming the trends continue.

🚧 NWA Infrastructure - No matter the national economy, there is no denying the long term growth prospects for our region. The Arkansas Department of Transportation put together a summary and graphic of the road improvement projects scheduled for NWA. The scale and amount of work that will be done is impressive!

📰💲Inflation Data - The biggest news of the week was the drop in inflation. Most economists expected a reading of at least 3%. Inflation registered at 2.7% in the November report.

Smart Tools for Savvy Agents

📊 AI Reports - Monthly data reports that give you the information edge you need to outpace the competition.  

🔢 Calculators - Closing costs made simple with the most accurate and powerful estimator available.

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