December 2008 Knoxville Home Sales Report

OK, before I even start breaking down the December 2008 Home Sales Report in the All Around KTown style, let’s get a few things straight -

I do not make these numbers up. They come straight from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors, not my brain. If the numbers aren’t that great, that doesn’t mean I’m a negative or pessimistic person. Iit just means the numbers aren’t that great.
I am a real estate agent. I’m not a real estate hater and I’m not here to make agents or the Knoxville real estate market look bad. I’m just trying to give as candid a snapshot of the market as I know how.
I wish I had better news for you. Seriously, I wish as much as anyone – maybe even more than anyone – that the numbers we’ve seen over the last few months were better than they have been. But I also don’t believe that me blowing wind up your collective skirts about the state of the Knoxville real estate market helps anything or anybody.
People are still buying and selling homes in Knoxville. If they weren’t, I’d be out of work and blogging about something else right now, like funny cat pictures, fondue, or my unhealthy obsession with finding the perfect office chair at a reasonable price.

Now then -

Earlier this week, Josh Flory over at Property Scope wrote about the glut of high end homes currently on the market in the Knoxville area. As he pointed out, in December ’08 there were 3,12o homes over $300,000 for sale – the equivalent of a 42 month supply. Yikes.

Because I love the charts – and because I know you do too – I decided to graph out December’s active and closed listings by price range. First let’s look at a snapshot of just the active listings-

Now let’s look at listings vs. closings in those same price ranges -

That last graph should give you an idea of not only what all home sellers are facing right now, but especially what folks in the upper price ranges are up against. And if you’re one of those people, please keep these numbers in mind the next time you want to unload on your Realtor for your home still being on the market. Just sayin’.

Now for the breakdown -

Someday soon there will be good news to start with, but for now, we have to start with the not-so-good news -

Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is down.
Dec ’07 – $99,800
Dec ’08 – $97,100

Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is (slightly) down.
Dec ’07 – $77,900
Dec ’08 – $77,500

Average sales price for 3 BR homes is down.
Dec ’07 – $170,300
Dec ’08 – $147,200

——————

Median sales price for 3 BR homes is down.
Dec ’07 – $150,000
Dec ’08 – $132,000

——————–

Average sales price for 4+ BR homes is down.

Dec ’07 – $296,300
Dec ’08 – $262,500

———-

Median sales price for 4+ BR homes is down.
Dec ’07 – $246,000

Dec ’08 – $220,000……

Average condo sales price is down.

Dec ’07 – $184,400

Dec ’08 – $160,200

————-

Median condo sales price is down.

Dec ’07 – $175,000

Dec ’08 – $149,000

—

Total number of single family units sold is down.

Dec ’07 – 861

Dec ’08 – 703

———-————-

Total number of condo units sold is down.

Dec ’07 – 111

Dec ’08 – 61

—

Days on market is up.

Dec ’07 – 102

Dec ’08 – 107

——–

Then there’s further proof that 2008 should be known as the Year of the FHA Loan:

—

Conventional loans were down almost 50%..

Dec ’07 – 602

Dec ’08 – 343

…while FHA loans were up over 200%.
Dec ’07- 63
Dec ’08- 139

And here’s the “Homeowners might be waiting to sell, but condo owners sure aren’t” news

The number of new residential listings was down...
Dec ’07 – 1698
Dec ’08 – 1,505

…but the number of new condo listings stayed almost the same.
Dec ’07 – 194
Dec ’08 – 193

Finally there’s the “either condo owners are more motivated or all those high end residential listings are skewing the numbers” news -

The average list price for new residential home listings went up.
Dec ’07 – $222,900
Dec ’08 – $228,300

…and the average list price for new condo listings went down.
Dec ’07 – $253,900
Dec ’08 – $206,800

—

As always, here’s my completely unscientific analysis:

The Knoxville housing market finished 2008 the same way it started – in a slump.
Residential and condo sales are still soft as a baby’s bottom.*
2008 was definitely a comeback year for the FHA loan.
Knoxville has more high end homes than high end home buyers.
No matter what, I still maintain that this is an exceptional market for qualified buyers. Could prices go lower? Sure. But if you need to buy now and you can buy now, you are in an excellent position to do so.
The Realtors who survived 2008 intact deserve hugs, but the ones who survive 2009 will deserve awards.

If you’re interested in looking at both reports yourself, here is ’07 and here is ’08. Enjoy and please feel free to share your thoughts and observations.

Also – I’m working on a 2008 year end chart extravaganza that I hope to have up by the end of this week – stay tuned!

*No need to freak out. Lower average sales price and lower median sales price do not necessarily mean that your personal home has depreciated.

Tags: Condos, Home Sales Report, KAAR

1109 days ago 3 Comments Short URL

Author: Suzy

Hard working Knoxville real estate agent by day. Intrepid Knoxville real estate blogger by night.

3 Comments

John Jones says:

January 20, 2009 at 10:46 pm

Suzy,

Great job on reporting the facts! I love the content and the format.You are adding value!

John Jones
suzy says:

January 20, 2009 at 11:16 pm

Thanks John! Keep rockin’ the market in the Boro!
CP says:

January 21, 2009 at 10:05 am

Glad I could be one of your customers in 2008 Suzy. Keep up the great work!