GRAY – The demand for vacant land in NE TN is strong, but total sales are down by 24 percent.

According to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) there were 858 vacant land closings in the core area it monitors during the first half of this year. This time last year there were 1,232.

There are several databases monitored by NETAR for local land market performance. There are others that focus on a national audience, so the listings and information on those listings is not aggregated to a single data source that is available to the public.

 Listings on the NETAR Commercial Multiple Listing Service (CMLS) database are commercial listings for local, national access. Flex vacant land listings are available only to the local Realtor network.

So far this year there have been 13 CMLS vacant land transactions. That’s one more than this time last year. There have been 845 Flex combined residential and commercial land sales. This time last year there were 1,122.

A Catalist search for active commercial vacant land listing in NETAR’s core NE TN – SW VA area had 109 for sale listings and four lease listings.

Sellers who have listed with LoopNet have 99 land listing in the core NE TN market.

There were 1,761 active Flex land listings in June, down 10.6 percent from last year. So far this year there have been 3,308 listings, down 15.7% from the first half of last year.

Almost half of the Flex transactions were in the $40K and below price range. The only price bands with small year-over-year sales were in the $200K-$300K and the $400K-$500K price range. The average time from listing to closing is 110 days this year. Last year it was 108 days.

Realtor.com currently has 1,219 listings for vacant land.

Greene Co. has the most listing (298) followed by Sullivan (256), Hawkins (237) and Washington Co. TN (205).

Land.com’s Tennessee searches show Eastern Tennessee leads the rest the of state. That lead is substantial 9,452 vs. 5,495 searches in East Central Tennessee.

Sullivan, Washington, Greene and Hawkins counties are ranked among the 10 most popular counties in the state for vacant land searches. Sevier Co. has the No. 1 ranking.