Housing analysts expect 10,408 Tri-Cities area residents will return to the market if mortgage rates settle at 6.5% in 2024.

The two included charts from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) delve into the number and demographics of those resident from each of the region’s two metro areas.

The release of that much pent-up demand, combined with the steady stream of new residents, could make for another crazy year for real estate.

Two market tracking reports for Realtor.com offer additional insights that dovetail with and expand what the New Year offers.

The Johnson City metro area (Carter, Washington, and Unicoi counties) is currently ranked #30 in the nation on the Market Hotness Analysis. The summary says the three-county area is a hot market heating slightly from this year’s market pace, but cooling down slightly from what it was doing this time last year. Inventory is moving 6% slower than last year and 2.75 days faster than the U.S. overall. Properties are averaging 2.2 times higher than the U.S. average.

Switch over the Realtor.com’s cross-market analysis and you’ll see that most of those listing views come from New York County, New York. And they account for better the double the number of views from the #2 source – Sullivan County.

The Kingsport-Bristol metro area (Hawkins and Sullivan counties in NE TN and Scott and Washington counties in SW VA) is ranked #54 out of the 300 U.S. metros in the hotness analysis. It’s rated as a slightly hot market with a cooling trend from this year’s and last year’s pace. Inventory is moving 6% slower than last year and 2.75 days faster than the U.S. overall. Listing for Kingsport-Bristol are getting an average number of views 2.2 higher than the U.S. average.

Those bulk of those views are also coming from New York County, and they’re better than double the No. 2 viewer source – Washington Co. TN.