Sell Your Commercial Property In Fort Smith, AR

Who rents in Fort Smith

Renters occupy 46.6% of Fort Smith's 36,775 occupied homes, or 17,151 households, in ACS 2020-2024 table B25003. Sebastian County's renter share is 38.6%, and Arkansas's is 33.6%. Fort Smith holds 85.1% of the county's 20,147 renter households.

Factory and hospital payrolls supply much of that demand. HUD's May 2023 Fort Smith market profile lists OK Foods and Mercy Hospital Fort Smith at 3,000 or more employees each. Baptist Health-Fort Smith is listed at 1,500 to 2,000. HUD also notes a $117 million Mars Petcare expansion, completed in 2023, that added more than 260 jobs.

Medical students add a newer tenant group. The Chaffee Crossing development site reports 1,100 students attending Arkansas Colleges of Health Education. The Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine says 135 of its students took part in the 2024 residency Match. Its parent, Arkansas Colleges of Health Education, sits on more than 500 acres in Fort Smith.

Rents and affordability in Fort Smith

Median gross rent in Fort Smith was $884 a month in ACS 2020-2024. That is $63, or 6.7%, below the Arkansas median of $947. Median household income was $54,816, so a year of median rent equals 19.4% of it.

Rent burden still runs high for lower-income tenants. In Fort Smith, 39.5% of renter households pay 30% or more of income on housing, per table B25070. Another 20.2% pay half or more, against 18.8% statewide.

HUD's FY2027 fair market rents for the Fort Smith, AR-OK MSA took effect October 1, 2026. The table shows HUD's monthly benchmark by unit size.

Source: HUD FMR documentation. The two-bedroom benchmark of $979 sits $95 above Fort Smith's median gross rent, which blends older units and studios.

Fort Smith's apartment stock

Fort Smith has 6,541 homes in buildings of five or more units, 16.2% of its 40,475 housing units, per table B25024. The share is 12.2% in Sebastian County and 10.5% statewide. Fort Smith holds 93.5% of the county's 6,994 such homes.

Small and mid-size complexes make up most of that stock. Fort Smith counts 1,999 homes in 5-9 unit buildings and 1,874 in 10-19 unit buildings. Another 1,019 sit in 20-49 unit buildings and 1,649 in buildings of 50 or more.

Fort Smith's median year built is 1977, and 56.5% of homes predate 1980, per table B25034. Only 925 homes date from 2020 or later. Owners who sell commercial real estate in Fort Smith, AR should expect buyers to price roofs, HVAC and plumbing on that older stock.

Rental vacancy was 6.7% in Fort Smith over 2020-2024, against 6.9% in Sebastian County and 6.4% statewide. Entry prices also sit below the state's. Fort Smith's median home value was $178,100, 5.3% under the Arkansas median of $188,000.

Property taxes in Sebastian County

An apartment building inside Fort Smith pays 57.5 mills in the Fort Smith School District, per the 2025 Millage Report for 2026 collections. Schools levy 41.5 mills, Fort Smith 8 mills and Sebastian County 8 mills.

Arkansas assesses property at 20% of market value under Ark. Code 26-26-303(c), according to the Assessment Coordination Division FAQ. The Division's commercial real estate page classes multifamily housing as commercial property. Assessors value it by the sales comparison, cost or income approach.

Here is the worked example. A $2,000,000 building is assessed at $400,000. At 57.5 mills, the annual bill is $23,000, an effective 1.15% of market value. In Barling, at 55 mills, the same building would owe $22,000.

Amendment 79 caps reappraisal increases on non-homestead property at 10% of the prior year's assessed value, per the same FAQ. The FAQ adds that a purchase removes the cap, and the property is assessed at 20% of full value the following January 1.

Appeals go to the Sebastian County Board of Equalization. The last day to schedule a hearing is the third Monday in August, per the commercial real estate page. Taxes are payable to the county collector by October 15.

A sale also carries the Arkansas real property transfer tax of $3.30 per $1,000 of actual consideration. On a $2,000,000 deed, that is $6,600. Owners who sell commercial property in Fort Smith, AR should settle who pays it in the contract.

Landlord rules in Fort Smith and Arkansas

Ark. Code 18-16-304 caps security deposits at two months' rent. Ark. Code 18-16-305 requires the deposit, less itemized deductions, back within 60 days after the tenancy ends. The Arkansas Attorney General says the deposit law covers landlords who rent six or more dwellings.

For unpaid rent, the Attorney General's guide says an unlawful detainer starts with three days' written notice to vacate. A tenancy under an oral lease ends on one rental period's notice, and written leases follow their own terms.

Ark. Code 14-54-1409 bars Arkansas cities and counties from ordinances that control rent, rental application fees or rental deposits. Fort Smith's Neighborhood Services page describes no rental registration or inspection program. Its property maintenance codes apply to all existing residential structures. Violation notices and deposit ledgers are among the first files a buyer requests when selling commercial property in Fort Smith.

What this means for a Fort Smith owner

Fort Smith gives a seller a steady demand story: a 46.6% renter share, a 336-bed Mercy hospital and a growing medical campus. Buyers will weigh that against 6.7% rental vacancy and a 1977 median year built. Anyone preparing to sell commercial real estate in Fort Smith, AR should have rent rolls and deposit records ready.

Taxes are the next line buyers model. At $23,000 a year on a $2,000,000 building, the 57.5-mill bill moves value as much as a rent change. Run your own figures in our cap rate calculator before you sell your apartment building in Fort Smith.

To sell commercial property in Fort Smith, AR without a listing, our seller page explains how we underwrite. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit apartment buildings in Downtown Fort Smith, Chaffee Crossing, Barling and Van Buren.