It’s official. Spring in here, and pending home sales are perking up from January’s lackluster performance. They’re not the only thing looking up in a market seeing a lot of anxiety.

Demand is slowing. Prices are firming up for more growth. There’s an early surge in affordability priced homes. And it’s looking like buyers are not spooked by the reality that expected mortgage rate declines may not happen in time for the peak home buying and selling season.

Sellers OK’d 692 contracts last month. That’s 68 more than January and 57 more than this time last year. The three-month trend is up 16.3%, and the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) Home Price Index is up for the second straight month. The index compares last month’s sales with the pre-pandemic benchmarked at the 2018 annual sales level.

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 NETAR. Since resales go under contract 30 to 60 days before they close, pending sales offer insight into the market’s direction.     

Activity in the $120K-$249,999 affordable housing price range didn’t dominate February like they did in January, but the increase was noteworthy. They were up 19.4% and accounted for 40% of February’s total pending sales. The strongest gain (119) was in the $200-$249,999 bracket, which was 59% better than last it was last year.

Move-up market pending sales in the $250K-$499,999K price range increased by 36.3%. The largest number – 124 – was in the $250K-$399,999 price range. That’s up 44% from last year. Last year’s $300K-$399,999 sweet spot.

Luxury home pending sales (74) were up 18%.

At month’s end, total active inventory was 1,459 listings, up 92 from January, and up 220 from last year. It has been slowly increasing since June last year. There were 405 new home listings, and 169 mobile homes listings.

The region currently has 2.3 months of inventory of existing homes. At least four months of inventory is needed for the lowest balanced market level.

The typical home that sold last month was on the market for 74 days, up from 63 days in January and 53 days last year. When homes spend more time on the market, it signals softer demand.

Sellers reduced their original list price on 39% of the homes that sold last month. The average price reduction was $27,000. The typical was $10,000.

Of the homes that sold, 57% saw a price reduction during negotiations. The average reduction was $18,602. The typical reduction was $3,000.

The median existing home listing price last month was $299,900. It was unchanged from January and has been reduced from $315,000 every month since October last year.

The mid-month median sales price was $250,000.