The top 10 residential real estate agencies in Arkansas didn’t change in 2016, but there was some shuffling of position as eight of the 10 reported higher sales volume than in 2015.
Memphis-based Crye-Leike Realtors, the perennial No. 1, retained the top spot with sales of $1.26 billion last year — up almost 4 percent. But the No. 2 firm was not as distant as in past years: By adding 125 licensed agents, Keller Williams Market Pro Realty of Fayetteville upped its sales volume by nearly half to overtake crosstown rival Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney & Faucette.
KW Market Pro was also helped along by having the top-selling individual agent in the state: Nicky Dou. She posted $48.81 million last year.
KW Market Pro also boasted the No. 3 selling team, Joseph Hayes & Associates, with volume of $42.5 million. Team sales are in a separate list led by the Limbird Team of Limbird Real Estate Group of Rogers, with $113.65 million, and the Eric Burch Team of Burch & Co. in Jonesboro, with almost $53 million.
At this point it’s important to explain real estate mathematics. The industry double-counts the sale of a house in recognition that the buyer and seller are often represented by different agents and companies.
The doubling reflects a system that rightfully acknowledges two sides to every transaction. However, instead of dividing the sales price of a property between the buyer’s agent/company and the sale’s agent/company to determine sales volume, both agents and companies get credit for the entire amount. The real-world dollar total of houses sold is more like half the sales volume reported by companies and agents.
Growth by the biggest agencies is reflected in the fact that the 10 largest claimed volume of $4.87 billion in 2016, up some 18 percent from the year before.
The top 40 listed this week reported total sales volume of $6.47 billion. That’s an increase of almost 15 percent from 2015. The No. 40 position belongs, for the second year in a row, to Weichert Realtors-Downum Group of Springdale, with sales volume just shy of $49 million in 2016, up almost 12 percent from the previous year.
Mergers and acquisitions were variables in play with this year’s lineup of residential real estate agencies. In Jonesboro, ERA Doty Real Estate, No. 20 on this week’s list with sales volume of $100 million, acquired Fred Dacus Associates in June 2016.
Fred Dacus Associates ranked No. 26 on last year’s list of the state’s top residential real estate agencies, with 2015 sales of almost $70 million. The company had 29 licensed agents — 11 of whom were $2 million-plus producers last year.
Linda Roster White Real Estate of Conway merged in August with Little Rock’s Coldwell Banker RPM Group, which landed at No. 6 this year. The combination expanded RPM’s central Arkansas footprint into Faulkner County.