July 2010 Knoxville Home Sales Report
It’s gettin’ on toward the end of the month and you know what that means — it’s Home Sales Report time. And the Knoxville area July numbers are here, even if I’m not that crazy about them.
Thanks to the Home Buyer Tax Credits that were in effect late last year and early this year, we had a really nice boost in sales in April, May and June. So nice, in fact, that most of us probably temporarily forgot that we’re still in the middle of an economic downturn and fairly major correction in the real estate market.
Now that all of those tax credits are behind us, the July Home Sales Report numbers are here to bring reality crashing back down. No, it’s not all bad news (what up, 4+ BR homes!), but, as you’ll see, year over year sales are down, well, a lot, and that’s going to freak some of you out. And the last thing I want is for you to be freaked out.
As I’ve said before during some of our darker times (you do remember September 2008, don’t you?), homes are still selling, and people will always need/want to move to Knoxville. Trust me on that one. We pushed through this back in 2008 thanks to the first and then second wave of tax credits, but this time it looks like we’re going to have to ride it out the old fashioned way: by letting the market slowly but surely correct itself.
And the good news is that that’s already happening and has been for quite some time. Price corrections have been going on for the better part of the past four (yes 4) years and judging by increased home sales prices in some categories, it would seem that we’re not in the same pricing decline we’ve been in over the last two or so years. Heck, just today the Wall Street Journal even said Knoxville is a great place to invest in real estate, as ”there is a low probability that home prices will fall further.” Oh, and we still have some pretty kickin’ super low interest rates that are helping out a whole lot (ask any loan officer you know, if you can actually get them on the phone right now).
So hang tight. This too shall pass. And for all I know, it could pass by next month. You’ll just have to tune back in to see 
But enough with the pep talk. Let’s get down to the business at hand and start breaking down the June 2010 Knoxville Home Sales numbers the only way I know how: AAKT style. Enjoy!
And hey, look! There’s some good news!_
Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is (slightly) up.
Jul ’09 – $88,100
Jul ’10 – $89,000
Average sales price for 4+ BR homes is (way) up.
Jul ’09 – $267,000
Jul ’10 – $277,300
Median sales price for 4+ BR homes is up.
Jul ’09 – $239,000
Jul ’10 – $242,300
Days on market is down (yes, seriously).
Jul ’09 – 118
Jul ’10 – 108
And then there’s some of that not-so-good news -
Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is (way) down.
Jul ’09 – $82,000
Jul ’10 – $74,500
Average sales price for 3 BR homes is (way) down.
Jul ’09 – $162,400
Jul ’10 – $152,800
Median sales price for 3 BR homes is (ever so slightly) down.
Jul ’09 – $137,300
Jul ’10 – $137,000
Average condo sales price is (way) down.
Jul ’09 – $163,700
Jul ’10 – $153,000
Median condo sales price is (way) down.
Jul ’09 – $144,500
Jul ’10 – $133,400
Conventional loans were way down…
Jul ’09 – 502
Jul ’10 – 336
…and so were FHA loans.
Jul ’09 – 247
Jul ’10 – 167
And here’s the “No, seriously, let’s wait a while to sell” news-
The number of new residential listings was down...
Jul ’09 – 2,618
Jul ’10 – 2,344
…as were the number of new condo listings.
Jul ’09 – 315
Jul ’10 – 280
Finally there’s the “sellers are never completely going to get the hang of this market, are they?” news -
Jul ’09 – $227,200
Jul ’10 – $223,900
Jul ’09 – $181,100
Jul ’10 – $194,400
- The end of the tax credits has left Knoxville residential and condo sales softer than that candy bar you left in your car last week.
- High end homes continue to buck the trend of downward sales prices in the market. When I figure this out, you’ll be the first to know.
- Days on market is down, but I have to wonder if this is real or simply a result of agents withdrawing and relisting homes, thus skewing real, continuous “days on market” data.
- FHA loans are trending downward for the first time in forever. This could be due to overall sales being down or fewer first timers entering the market now that the tax credits are gone. Durn tax credits!
- Seriously. This ain’t 2008. Why you wanna list your house so high?
- Record low interest rates are the silver lining in this housing cloud.
- Goodbye tax credits. Hello housing correction. I say bring it.
If you’re interested in looking at both reports yourself, here is ’09 and ’10. Enjoy and please feel free to share your thoughts and observations.
Author: Suzy
Hard working Knoxville real estate agent by day. Intrepid Knoxville real estate blogger by night.
Those are some expensive condos! I guess downtown lofts might skew the average on condo costs?
Downtown condos are definitely expensive, but there are also several higher end condo communities out west (think $300-$600K) that would raise the average and median sales price quite a bit.
4+ bedrooms:
19 of 164 were > $500,000 in 2010 – that is 11.6% of homes.
17 of 219 were > %500,000 in 2009 – that is 7.8% of homes.
There is your pricing skew. Buying amongst the few rich is steady. Everything else is dropping. But with a more than 2-year supply of homes on offer in that sector, it is slow going. Note 23.7% of all homes were bought for cash. Cashed up investors are buying selectively, but everyone else is scared or struggling.
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