It’s a trend nationally, and Pulaski County reflects it: Home sales are down, but prices are up. 

In the past 12 months, sales declined in both number and dollar volume, according to figures supplied by the Cooperative Arkansas Realtors Multiple Listing Service. Total units sold dipped from 5,821 a year ago (November 2005 to October 2006) to 5,642 in 2007 (November 2006 to October 2007). 

PALATIAL: This home at 30 Bretagne Drive sold for $1.8 million to R. Huckabay Development.

But the average cost of buying a home rose — slightly — from $172,907 in the 12 months ending October 2006 to $174,742 for the same period this year. 

The number of homes valued at $1 million or higher also declined. A list compiled from information supplied by CARMLS and the Daily Record found 23 homes in that category, compared to 29 for the 12 months ending in October 2006. This year’s list, however, includes the December 2006 sale of residential property at 21509 Denny Road for $3 million, which appears to be a record. 

The sales price of downtown Little Rock residences more than doubled, thanks to the opening of the luxe high-rise condo development 300 Third (at 300 E. Third St.). Seventeen condos valued at $600,000 and above (including two to Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson) were sold. Last year, the average sales price of homes in this zone was $114,990; this year it was $236,286. Included in that average was a home at 1722 S. Center St. that sold for $725,000. 

Homes in West Little Rock and western Pulaski County, where most of the city’s gated communities are located, sold for an average of $403,413, the highest in the county, CARMLS data shows. Top-end neighborhoods include Chenal Valley, Chenal Downs, Foxridge, Valley Falls Estates and Triple Creek. 

Little Rock’s Heights/Hillcrest market yielded an average sales price of $283,178, a rebound from last year’s drop to $256,815. That figure includes the Edgehill, Newton, Cliffewood, Longfellow, St. John’s Place, Country Club Heights, Prospect Terrace, Forest Heights Place and Park View neighborhoods. 

The northwest sector of West Little Rock (the big-buck domiciles are in Hickory Pointe, Pleasant Valley, Hickory Grove, Adkins Estates and Walton Heights) maintained its perennial hold on the largest number of residential sales in the market. But still, numbers were down, from 887 in 2006 to 788 listings in 2007. The average sales price in this market did inch up to $243,150, compared to more than $240,000 last year.   

Maumelle moved up to the second most active residential market in the county, with 487 listings and an average price of $208,178. 

Following were Jacksonville with 480 listings sold ($101,331 average), Sherwood with 436 listings sold ($160,505 average) and the West Little Rock-north market (Palisades, Overlook Park, Rivers Edge and River Ridge) with 432 listings sold ($184,950 average). 

Sales in the North Little Rock-central area, home to the Lakewood and Park Hill neighborhoods, continued a decline that began in 2005, dropping to 307 from 321 the 12 months previous, but the average sales price increased from $164,100 to nearly $170,800.