Spring and the prime home buying and selling season is upon us. If you thought absorbing local market information was like trying to drink from a fire hose last year, buckle up because it’s likely you’ll see more of the same this year. Here’s why. 

To some people, home sales during the last half of 2025 felt like a slumping market. There were also some predicting the local market would crash and burn. But it didn’t.  

Sales did slow when compared to the go-go market of 2023 and 2022. But monthly sales in the last half of 2025 outperformed the same months in the previous year. Fast forward to this year’s markets. 

Almost all the experts are forecasting sales increases this year. Most estimates are in the conservative 3.5% – 5% increase range. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors®, doesn’t see it that way. His outlook is for a 14% increase. He defends that model by pointing out that double-digit rebounds are common after sales slumps.

And remember, we’re talking about national sales numbers. 

The local market landscape hasn’t fit the U.S. mold for almost a decade. Currently, some local submarkets are hot. Some are average. But average by local standards is pretty good market. Regionwide sales in January were up 2.4% from the previous year. That’s in line with the 2025 annual increase of 3.2%. Nine of the local submarkets had annual sales increases in 2025. Three of them had double-digit sales increases.  

Tri-Cities home sales outperformed the pre-pandemic level sales in December and January. The recent atypical winter weather has put a crimp in the market, but it won’t last.  

The dominant assessment is that the local market will continue as a moderating sellers’ market. How many sales remain to be seen. But it’s a good bet to say they will increase this year.  

Look for a lot of conflicting news about prices and housing market trends in the coming months. But remember that most of what’s in the media is picked up from reports and conditions in major metro markets. More often than not, those reports fall woefully short of describing local housing market conditions.  

Savvy buyers, sellers, and investors know that one of the first rule of success is making decisions based on local conditions and not what’s happening in Nashville, Dallas, or any other metro market.   

Each month, the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors® (NETAR) provides a series of charts, graphs, and stories on how and what the local market is doing. It begins the first week of the month with the Home Sales graphic on netar.us accompanied by charts outlining the current month’s level and trend for prices, sales, inventory, and more. A progression of those items, plus the weekly Market Pulse and this column, continues through the end of each month. 

The motive is simple. NETAR and its members are the voice for real estate in the local market. While all real estate is location, location, location the best and most accurate information is local, local, local. 

The bottom line is local markets are expected to heat as we get into the prime season. Buyers and sellers who watch NETAR’s website and social media sites and are partnered with local Realtors® will have the edge.