For the second consecutive year, residential home sales declined by double digits in Northwest Arkansas’ two largest counties.

Real estate agents combined to sell 9,802 residential properties in the two-county area last year. That’s according to data from the Matrix software platform the Northwest Arkansas Board of Realtors (NABOR) uses and provided to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal by Marcus Necessary, vice president and executive broker with Weichert, Realtors-The Griffin Co.

According to the data, those figures represent a 10.3% decrease from 10,923 home sales in 2022. The year-over-year decrease was 11.6% last year, from 12,349 home sales in 2021.

“Interest rates certainly played a part in slowing down our market,” said Sherry Laemmle,” vice president and general manager of the Northwest Arkansas region for Tennessee-based Crye-Leike Real Estate Services. “Also, so many homeowners refinanced at the lower rates and are hesitant to give that up.”

According to historical figures previously reported by the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, unit sales were up 2.4% in 2021, 12.8% in 2020 and 6.3% in 2019. That followed annual gains of 1.3% in 2018, 7.7% in 2017 and 9.1% in 2016.

Home sale values also declined in 2023, from $4.24 billion to $4.02 billion, a dip of 5.2%.

Those numbers produced an average home sale price of $410,807 last year, up 5.6% from $388,860 in 2022.

Benton County residential properties in 2023 had a sales volume of $2.66 billion, down 5.3% from 2022. Unit sales were down 10% to 6,326. The average selling price of a home in Benton County was $421,144, up 5.2% from the previous year.

In Washington County, total sales volume declined 4.89% to $1.36 billion last year, while unit sales were down 10.5% — 3,887 to 3,476. The average selling price of a home in Washington County was $391,994, up 5.6% from the previous year.

According to the National Association of Realtors, U.S. home sales dropped 19% last year to 4.09 million, the lowest level since 1995.