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New Homes Being Sold In Northwest Arkansas On The Rise

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS (KFSM) — Land space to build new homes in Northwest Arkansas is so limited cities are drafting new ordinances to possibly move historic...

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS (KFSM) -- Land space to build new homes in Northwest Arkansas is so limited cities are drafting new ordinances to possibly move historic homes to make room.

A Bentonville ordinance to ban the move of historical homes has been changed.

Mayor Bob McCaslin said now these homes can be moved inside or outside city limits.

This clears land for new building projects.

“People now because they want to live in Bentonville particularly they want to live in walking distance of downtown Bentonville, they are buying some of these old homes, scraping the lot clean and rebuilding and we don't have an issue with that,” he said.

Of all the homes sold in Benton and Washington County until June of 2017, the highest proportion of those homes were new construction.

“What that tells us is that there is a very strong demand for housing in Northwest Arkansas and people are not only buying existing homes but newly constructed homes are selling pretty quickly as well,” Mervin Jebarai said.

University of Arkansas economic expert Mervin Jebaraj is the lead researcher for the skyline report, a real estate study published twice a year through a partnership between the University of Arkansas and Arvest Bank.

Jebaraj said the recently released report shows there are fewer lots available in desirable areas in Northwest Arkansas.

“There are not very many lots available in that areas because most of it is built up already. So, what is left is either really expensive or just not available unless you rezoned the existing commercial thoroughfare,” he said.

Forcing city governments to take a serious look at rezoning options to allow for new homes in more parts of town.

The report also revealed that the average price of a home was about $227,000 in Benton County and $210,000 in Washington County.

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