Pending home sales, inventory, and new listing increased in March. The increases capped a lackluster start to the new year and signaled a more active prime home buying and selling season.

Realtors say they are seeing more activity in this market that has seen sales trending lower and stabilized prices. The region is also struggling with a pernicious housing shortage and the lack of housing and rental affordability.

Pending sales are a leading indicator of housing activity based on signed contracts for existing single-family homes and condominium sales in the region monitored by the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR). Since sales go under contract 30 to 60 days before they close, pending sales offer insight into the market’s direction.     

At mid-month, the region’s median sales rice was $270,000, which was also the first quarter average. Sales were down 11% in March. The three-month trend is down 5.2% from last year.

Pending sales in the move-up market ($300K-$499,999K) led last month’s pend sales with an 18% increase from last year.

The $100K-$179,999K market saw a 14.3% increase while the affordable market ($180K-$299,999K) was up 4.6%.

The luxury market ($500K and up) was up 1.1% from last year.

First quarter $1 million plus sales were up 80% from the first three months of last year.

Sellers accepted enough new contracts in the Johnson City market to boost its pending sales 22% from last year. City officials say the Johnson City housing shortage of 5,587 units is expected to increase without intervention.

Other submarkets with notable pending sales increases are:

Bluff City up 85%

Gray up 21.4%

Elizabethton up 21.9%

Mount Carmel up 50%

New listings were up 19.7% from last year and boosted active inventory 32.1%. It’s the best level the region has seen since 2020. The increase has resulted in a market that is kinder to buyers. An example is last month’s median sales price was $14,900 less than the median listing price. But with 3.18 months of inventory, the region remains a seller’s market.

Demand – as measured by the time a property is on the market before selling, increased to 80 days last month. This time last year it was 62 days.

Some lenders have tightened the purse strings considering the current economic and geopolitical conditions. One local lender said rejections now outnumber approvals. 

During the first quarter total loan originations in the four-county Kingsport-Bristol metro area were up 34% from last year and down 6.2% from the previous quarter.

Purchase loans saw the largest quarterly decrease, down 17.4%. They were up 29% from last year.

Refi loans were up 1.4% from the previous quarter and up 37.3% from last year.

HELOCS saw a 12.5% increase from the previous quarter and a 40% increase from last year.

The Johnson City metro area did not meet the analysis benchmark in the population or market activity level to be included in the ATTOM loan origination report.