The Arkansas Realtors® Association announced this morning that home sales in January were up 8.7% from a year ago. January is typically the slowest sales month of the year, usually accounting for less than 6% of the annual total sales. Nevertheless, it is encouraging that the new year started out with a solid increase. Home sales in 2013 overall were up 12.7% compared to 2012, and the new data suggest that the strong growth is continuing into 2014.
Among the 10 counties with the highest sales totals, only two showed decreases compared to last year – Faulkner (-30.9%) and Washington (-8.9). In both of those counties, however, unusually strong sales in January 2013 biased the year-over-year comparison. If we compare sales in January 2014 to January 2012, all 10 counties showed significant increases.