TL;DR: The freshest NWA housing market report is FRED's Realtor.com county series, updated October 1, 2026 with September 2026 median listing prices of $460,600 in Benton County and $399,563 in Washington County. Redfin's city pages give median sale prices by city for the three months ending September 2026, and the Skyline Report (1H 2026, reported August 21, 2026) gives county average and median sale prices and days on market. Freddie Mac's 7.32% mortgage rate (October 22, 2026) is national and updates weekly. Judge any report by its month label, county split and named source.
Which NWA housing market report is the most current?
No single free source covers sale prices, listing prices and inventory for the current month, so the answer changes with what you need to know. Benton County covers Bentonville (Walmart's headquarters), Rogers and Lowell (J.B. Hunt). Washington County covers Fayetteville. Tyson Foods is in Springdale. The two counties price differently, so a report that blends them hides information.
Here is the release scorecard as of October 23, 2026:
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: weekly, and the October 22, 2026 figure of 7.32% was posted the same day. This is the fastest source, but it is national.
- FRED, carrying Realtor.com county listing prices: September 2026 data was updated October 1, 2026, the day after the month ended.
- Walton College CBER and Arvest Skyline Report: the 1H 2026 edition covers the first half of the year.
- Talk Business & Politics: it published the 1H 2026 Skyline coverage on August 21, 2026. The full CBER residential report behind that coverage adds county medians and days on market.
- U.S. Census Building Permits Survey: revised monthly data is usually released on the 17th workday of the month, and it measures permits, not sales.
- ArkansasONE MLS: the source behind most local monthly figures; ask for the pull date of any MLS-based number you are handed.
If you are deciding what to offer on or list for this month, FRED is the freshest county-level listing read, Redfin the freshest city-level sale-price read, and Freddie Mac the freshest financing read. Treat anything older as background.
How many days behind is each source after the period ends?
Lag is the first thing to check, and the sources differ widely. The Skyline Report covers the first half of 2026, which ended June 30. It was reported August 21, 2026, nearly two months after the period closed. FRED's listing series reached the public one day after September ended. Freddie Mac has essentially no lag for its own survey.
The Census permit release works differently. The page I opened on October 23, 2026 says revised monthly data is usually released on the 17th workday of the month, and it did not show a latest NWA-metro value. So permits tell you about future supply, on a schedule you can look up, but they will not tell you what homes sold for last month.
For an MLS-based monthly figure, do not assume a lag. Ask whoever hands you the number for the date it was pulled.
If you are a seller timing a listing, the Skyline lag means the half-year report describes a market that ended in June, not the one buyers are in now. Use FRED for the current month and Skyline for direction.
Which counties and cities does each report actually cover?
Geography is where branded monthly reports most often mislead. The Skyline Report, as reported August 21, 2026, splits sales by county: Benton County 3,187 homes, Washington County 1,993 and Madison County 61, for 5,241 in all, up 3.8% from the same period last year. That is a real county split. FRED's two Realtor.com series are also county-level, one for Benton and one for Washington.
Freddie Mac is national. Census publishes permits for metro areas and individual places, but its 2026 place files mark the City of Rogers monthly counts as imputed because no report was received, so read a Rogers permit figure with care. Redfin publishes city sale prices: for the three months ending September 2026 the median was $489,717 in Bentonville, $448,786 in Rogers, $404,807 in Fayetteville, $354,126 in Springdale, $370,274 in Bella Vista and $329,743 in Lowell. If a report gives a city figure without naming its source and month, treat it as unverified.
The county gap is large. FRED's September 2026 listing prices differ by $460,600 minus $399,563, or $61,037, between Benton and Washington. The Skyline 1H 2026 average sale prices differ by $465,888 minus $423,750, or $42,138. A report that gives one blended NWA number erases a gap of that size.
If you are buying in Fayetteville, Redfin's city median is the nearest published reference; the Washington County line is a county figure. In Bentonville or Rogers, the same holds for the Benton County line. Neither tells you what homes in a given neighborhood sold for, so ask for an MLS pull on the neighborhood itself.
Which metrics does each source report: median, days on market, inventory?
The metrics are narrower than most readers expect. The Skyline coverage on August 21, 2026 reports average sale prices only. Benton County was $465,888, down 1.2% from $471,427 a year earlier (CBER Skyline Report, first half of 2025). Washington County was $423,750, up 1.5% from $417,489 in 1H 2025 and down 1.4% from 2H 2025. The article reports averages; the full CBER residential report adds medians of $385,000 in Benton County and $362,000 in Washington County, and average days on market of 115 and 101, for 1H 2026.
FRED's series is a median, but of listing prices, not sale prices: $460,600 for Benton County and $399,563 for Washington County, both September 2026. Listing price is what sellers ask, and sale price is what buyers paid. Do not subtract one from the other and call it a discount, because the periods and the measures differ.
Averages and medians also behave differently. A few large sales pull an average up, so an average sale price and a median listing price cannot be compared head to head. Compare like with like: a median with a median, a sale price with a sale price.
For monthly pace and inventory, FRED's Realtor.com county series show a median of 72 days on market in Benton County and 61 in Washington County, with 2,441 and 1,157 active listings, in September 2026, and Redfin gives days on market by city. For a specific street or school zone, ask for an MLS pull.
If you are pricing a listing, use the sale-price source for what homes sold for and the listing-price source for the competition you will face.
What disqualifies a housing market report?
Apply these three tests before you trust any number. A report that fails one should not drive a price or an offer.
- No month label. A figure with no period is unusable. The Skyline average says 1H 2026, and FRED says September 2026. Both pass.
- No county split. A Benton and Washington blend fails, given the $42,138 gap in Skyline average sale prices.
- No named source. FRED names Realtor.com, Skyline names CBER and Arvest, and Freddie Mac names its survey. A branded recap that cannot say where its figure came from fails.
Then ask a fourth question: is the number a median or an average, and is it a sale price or a listing price? One undated Talk Business article on September home sales surfaced in my search, and it appears to be from 2025. An undated piece is a reason to keep looking, not a data point.
Revision is the last check. Census states a revised-data schedule. For MLS-based monthly numbers, ask whether the prior month was restated.
If a report fails these tests, make your decision on the sources above and call a broker for the missing pieces.
What should you do with these numbers?
- Check FRED first for the current month. Read Benton County ($460,600) and Washington County ($399,563) for September 2026 and note the October 1, 2026 update date.
- Use the Skyline Report (1H 2026, reported August 21, 2026) for sale-price direction by county, and remember it reports averages, not medians.
- Check the Freddie Mac rate before any affordability conversation: 7.32% on October 22, 2026, against 6.19% one year before that reading in the same Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, which is 1.13 percentage points higher.
- Drop any report that lacks a month label, a county split or a named source.
- Ask your broker for an MLS pull on your own city and price band, with the pull date stated, for days on market and months of supply.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the freshest free NWA housing market report?
For county prices, FRED is the freshest free source I found, updated October 1, 2026 with September 2026 data: Benton County $460,600 and Washington County $399,563, both median listing prices. Freddie Mac's mortgage rate (7.32% on October 22, 2026) is fresher but national. Skyline is older, covering 1H 2026.
Does the Skyline Report give a median home price?
Yes, in the full CBER residential report: the 1H 2026 median sale price was $385,000 in Benton County and $362,000 in Washington County. The Talk Business coverage of August 21, 2026 reported the averages, $465,888 and $423,750, so check which measure a source quotes before comparing it with another.
Why does the county split matter in an NWA report?
The county split matters because Benton and Washington County prices differ materially. In the Skyline Report (1H 2026, reported August 21, 2026), the average sale price gap is $42,138. In FRED's September 2026 listing prices, the gap is $61,037. A blended NWA figure hides that difference.
How often do Census building permit figures update?
Census revised monthly permit data is usually released on the 17th workday of the month, according to the Census Building Permits Survey page viewed October 23, 2026. Census place files mark the City of Rogers 2026 monthly counts as imputed (no report received), and permits measure construction activity, not home sales prices.
For a side-by-side comparison of the sources above, applied to the specific cities and price band you are weighing, call Mason Capital Group at 479-925-3333. In a first conversation we will provide a county-by-county source scorecard with the current figures, their as-of dates and an MLS pull date for your target neighborhoods.
About the author: Cameron Torabi, Principal Broker — Mason Capital Group. 30+ years of Northwest Arkansas real estate expertise; $2.4B+ in cumulative transaction activity.
Figures in this article are drawn from Talk Business & Politics coverage of the Arvest/CBER Skyline Report (1H 2026, published August 21, 2026), FRED Realtor.com median listing price series for Benton County and Washington County (September 2026, updated October 1, 2026), Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (October 22, 2026, with its year-earlier reading) the full CBER Skyline residential report (1H 2026), Redfin city housing-market pages (three months ending September 2026), and the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey page (viewed October 23, 2026) and place files (August 2026).