GRAY – Tri-Cities area home price stayed in the double-digit growth range last year while sales retreated to a pre-pandemic level.

There were 548 closing in the counties monitored by the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR). The record high mortgage rates that sent many buyers to the sidelines reduced the number of annual sales by 29 from the 2022 total and settled in slightly south of the 2108 total.

Last year’s annual median sales price was $254,000 – an increase of $24,000 per typical sale.

December sales knocked the edge off a slight inventory increase that had been building since June. At year’s end, the local market needed another 1,700 existing homes to continue moving the existing home inventory to the bottom ranges of balanced conditions – 4.5 months of inventory. Balanced conditions are the point when the market favors neither sellers nor buyers. That would put some downward pressure on the price growth rate. Several local markets have attained balanced conditions in individual price ranges. Most of that is in the move-up markets.

Demand – as measured by the time a property is on the market before closing – has been slowly decreasing since April. So far, the decrease has not significantly affected market conditions.

According to the Research Department of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) the region could see 10,000 locals return to the market if mortgage rates settle in at the 6% to 6.5% range.

Although the sales price was flat during the last half of the year, owners compensated for the traffic lull with price reductions. A little of half (53%) of all last year’s sales were reduced from the final listing price. The average price reduction was $18,882 and the most common was $10,000.

There were 445 new construction single-family homes, townhomes, and condos listed in the region during early January. That’s 30 fewer than this time last month. 

A full listing for the December and annual regional, county, and community sales and prices analytics can be found on the NETAR website at www.netar.us