The price of real estate in Memphis has remained consistent over the last year despite a drop in the number of homes listed for sale. Unsurprisingly homes are selling faster now than they were last year, thanks in part to the lower inventory. Memphis continues to be a very affordable city to own a home in, but with mortgage rates rising how long will the real estate market in Memphis remain buoyant? Right now it’s neither a buyer’s or a seller’s market.
Inventory is Down in Memphis
If you’re hoping to buy a home in Memphis you’ll be happy to know that as of today there are 2,683 homes listed for sale. This may sound like a lot but when compared to this time last year we’re actually seeing a 20 percent drop in total inventory for Memphis, having gone down from 3,371 last year. Last month the figure was essentially the same – just one additional home was listed then.
This decline in total inventory in Memphis is following a downward trend the same as we’ve been seeing over the past couple of years. There just aren’t as many homes being listed today as there were several years ago.
List Price Remains Consistent
Usually when there’s a downward trend in inventory the median list price sees an increase, but that really isn’t the case here. You could happily use the word ‘consistent’ when it comes to the price of real estate in Memphis – yes, overall it has dropped a little since 2010, but the median list price today is exactly the same as it was one year ago, at $99,900, and that was the same last month too, so there really hasn’t been the typical rise in prices that we usually see with lower inventory. Looking at median price per square foot it’s a similar story – there’s been just a very small 2 percent rise from last year when that figure was $66. Today, the same as last month, the median price per square foot is $67.
What we are seeing though is a reduction in the median days on market. This is the median number of days it’s taking for homes in Memphis to sell. And, with today’s median of 71 days this is the lowest it’s been for some years, dropping by 4 percent from last month’s 74 days, and by 14 percent from last year’s 83 days. So people are buying homes in Memphis and with less inventory to choose from homes that are listed are selling faster.
Mortgage Rates Climbing Slowly
Mortgage news isn’t especially spectacular either. Rates continue to be lower than they have been in recent years, though are by no means at their lowest right now. There was a drop in mortgage rates in April but since then the rates have been on the rise again to today’s figure of 3.55 percent, which is one basis point higher than the national average.
If mortgage rates in Tennessee do continue to rise, first-time home buyers are going to start having difficulties buying a homes and this will trickle down to home buyers and sellers at the higher ends of the market. However, with less inventory available in Memphis there should still be a good enough demand for buying homes in the city, and this should help to keep Memphis’ real estate market buoyant.
