The highest mortgage rate in years, a stubborn inventory shortage, higher home prices, and higher rents continue stimulating the new and existing condos/ townhomes market.

A typical condo owner who sold last month pocketed $37,250 more than those who sold during October last year. A typical existing single-family netted an average year-over-year gain of $25,300.

Last month’s condo sales were typical of monthly vitality by doubling from a steep decline in September. And although prices were down from September, they continued to outperform the rest of the market.

There are several drivers of this part of the market’s performance.

• Condo and townhomes have become a necessary entry-level purchase for many price-conscious and first-time buyers.
• They are also popular with some retirees who are scaling down – especially those with no mortgage or a low-rate mortgage who want to keep their other home as a rental.
• Growth of the rental market has attracted investors on both the mom-and-pop and institutional-level investors. The latter group is actively involved in the build-to-rent market. The future product outlook for townhome build-to-rent products is a 6% increase.

When this item was written, there were 60 existing condo/townhome listings. Most were in Sullivan County.

A check of the new construction listings had 127 listings. Greene County had the most new construction listings.

The condo/townhome median sales price in the primary NE TN counties monitored by NETAR’s Home Sales report was $221,250. That’s the market’s middle point, so half of the sales were for more and half were for less.

Most of October’s sales (16) were bought with conventional loans. The median sales price was $225,000 and discounted an average of $4,688 from the asking price. The average time on market was 80 days. NETAR’s time on the market begins when the listing goes public and ends when the sales is closed.

There were 10 cash sales last month with a median sales price of $221,250 and an average $5,640 discount. The average time on market was 69 days and the average sales price was $256,350.

The final sale was with a VA loan. The median sales price was $179,000. It sold for $9,100 above the asking price, and was on the market for 34 days.