Sellers approved 178 more offers in February than February last year. That’s a 27.1 percent increase, and the 10^th straight month new pending sales have increased by double digits.  

Pending sales are a leading indicator of housing activity based on signed contracts for existing single-family homes, condominiums, and townhome resales monitored by the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors’ Home Sales Report. Since resales go under contract 30 to 60 days before the sale is closed, pending sales typically lead existing-home sales by about two months.

“This year’s market didn’t wait for the spring buying and selling season,” NETAR President Kristi Bailey said. “February’s pending sales were a down a little (35 accepted officers) from January’s total, but everything points to a super competitive prime season this year.”

There were 1,044 active listings at the end of February – down 54.7 percent from last year. New listings were down 2.4 percent.

The region had 1.4 months of inventory last month while several city markets had a month or less inventory. Johnson City and Elizabethton are examples of markets with less than a month’s inventory. Kingsport and Bristol have just over one month’s inventory. Greenville was on par with the region.

Bailey added a lack of inventory and slowly increasing mortgage rates are putting increasing upward pressure on prices. And homes are selling faster than ever. The median days on market last month was 63, down from 82 last year.

The average listing price last month was $307,973, up 16.9 percent from last year, and the average sales price was $216,568, up 13.7 percent from last year.

NETAR is the voice for real estate in Northeast Tennessee. It’s the largest trade association in the Northeast Tennessee – Southwest Virginia region representing over 1,400 members and 100 affiliates involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. Pending sales, monthly Trends Reports, and the regional market analytics can be found on the NETAR websites at https://netar.us/voice-real-estate-northeast-tennessee .