Pending home sales declined from the previous month for the third time in November as the market continued taking a breather from its frantic pace. Compared to last year, last month’s approved contracts point to another record year for NE Tenn. – SW Va. existing home sales.  

Pending sales are a leading indicator of housing activity based on signed contracts for existing single-family homes, condominiums, and townhome sales in the region monitored by the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) Home Sales Report. Since resales go under contract 30 to 60 days before the sale closes, pending sales offer some insight into the direction existing home sales closing will take. 

“Buyers approved 820 new contracts last month.” NETAR President Kristi Bailey said. That’s a 13.1% increase from last year. So far this year 8,689 existing home sales have been closed. During the first 11 months of last year, the total was 7,808. So, unless there’s a dramatic decline in the number of closing the region’s annual sales total will be comfortably above last year’s 8,944 benchmark.” 

There were 1,150 existing single-family homes on the market last month. That gave the region 1.5 months of inventory at the current sales pace. Balanced market conditions are five to six months of inventory. 

The typical home that closed in November was on the market for 54 days. That’s an increase of three days from the previous month and a week more than it was in May. The median days on market have been slowly increasing since May. A time-on-market increase signals demand is softening. 

The average listing price last month was $338,586. The average sales price was $254,415, up 15.7% from November last year. 

The market’s middle point for listings and sales prices presents a more conservative market picture than averages, which is skewed by the number of higher-priced and luxury homes. The 

November median listing price was $225,000, and the median sales price was $210,000.