Source: Wikipedia.
A number of significant changes have taken place in the Nashville real estate market compared to this time last year. Currently it’s a seller’s market in the Tennessee capital because inventory is much lower than last year. Prices have increased but not dramatically so, but if the trend of less inventory continues you should expect to see higher list prices. Good news is that the mortgage rates are lower than last year, but how long this will continue is uncertain.
Far Fewer Homes For Sale
Right now, according to Movoto’s trends and statistics, Nashville has an even 2,500 homes for sale, having increased by 9 percent over just last month when there was a total inventory of 2,304. Even though inventory has increased from last month there are actually far fewer homes listed for sale right now then there were at this time last year when that figure stood at 3,256. This is a huge drop in inventory–23 percent.
It’s not surprising then, that the median days on market have also decreased from this time last year. With less homes listed for sale there’s less choice for buyers so the homes that are listed will be in higher demand. Higher demand means they will sell faster. Median DOM is 46 today, whereas a year back it was 55, showing a decrease of 16 percent. And, looking at last month the median days on market was even lower – at 44 days – which is probably due to there being less inventory last month. From month to month this was a 5 percent increase.
Homes Cost More Right Now
With the news of less inventory and fewer days on market it’s also not surprising to see that property prices in Nashville have risen. The median list price shows a large 17 percent increase from last year when that figure was $179,900, and a 2 percent increase from last month when the median list price was $205,000. Today the median list price is $209,900.
Median price per square foot has also shown an increase, though not at quite the same drastic levels as list price. Today it is $112 per square foot which is just a 1 percent rise from last month when it was $111. A year ago the figure was $107 per square foot so a comparison with today shows a 5 percent increase.
Sellers Market in Nashville
All of this points to it being a seller’s market in Nashville so it’s a good time to list your home for sale. There are far fewer homes listed for sale than compared with last year but demand from buyers is still there according to the median days on market. With fewer listings, sellers would have less competition from similarly priced homes and therefore a better chance of selling for more money and faster.
A seller’s market isn’t such good news for buyers. If you’re able to hold off for a while more inventory may be listed coming into summer, making this a better time to buy.
Mortgage Rates Have Dropped
Mortgage rates in Tennessee have been steadily dropping over the past month from a high of 3.5 percent to their current level of 3.27 percent. This has been good news for buyers following an increase in mortgage rates at the beginning of 2013, and compared to this time last year rates are significantly lower having dropped from nearly 3.8 percent. The question is, how long will this downward trend continue and is it better to find a home now while the rates are at one of their lowest for the past two years?
