In the years leading up to this quarter there have been problems in our area with supply and demand: too many houses, not enough people buying. This quarter’s results show, we’re slowly moving towards equilibrium.

It’s all due to a lack of building. Sales of new homes are down, but building activity was down even more allowing the market to continue its move towards a healthy balance.

As for the numbers of already existing homes, sales were also down from the same quarter a year ago, but they showed an increase over the previous three quarters. In other words, people are buying; they’re just buying at a slower rate.


"We're still moving in the right direction, not as rapidly as if people were just running out there and buying lots of houses though," explains Jeff Cooperstein a researcher for the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas.

The big question, how long will it take before we reach that healthy equilibrium point? Skyline researchers say it’s all dependent on how current economic conditions from a national level impact us locally, something to monitor closely in the next coming months.

According to Todd White, the Senior Vice President of Arvest Mortgage Company, so far, we’ve been fairly lucky here in Northwest Arkansas thanks to big companies like Wal-mart, Tyson and J.B. Hunt, we haven’t seen nearly the amount of job loss as places in other parts of the country.