May 2010 Knoxville Home Sales Report
It’s the end of the month and that means it’s time to take a look-see what the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors has to tell us about home sales in the month this was, in this case, May 2010.
You may remember that sales were way up in April thanks to the Home Buyer tax credits that expired April 30th. And last month I predicted that the May numbers might be quite as high, but that they were going to stay fairly elevated as all the sales that went under contract during that period continue to close.
And yeah, I was totally right. I won’t spoil the breakdown for you, but let’s just say the sales numbers for May were certainly nothing to sneeze at.
But before we dive into May, I wanted to share some charts with you that will give you an idea of where we were through April this year versus the past several years. The first one shows the number of closings:
You can see that we are still low overall, especially compared to the boom years of ’06 and ’07 but that we’ve made some good improvement over 2009 so far, even in January and February.
This next chart shows housing supply data:
In April, we had about a 16 month supply of housing inventory vs. about 19 months in April of ’09. In other words, if no more homes went on the market starting today (or back in April, in this case), it would take about 16 months to sell them all at the rate they’re currently selling. This number may seem high — and yeah, it kind of is — but it’s nothing compared to where we were in January of ’09 at nearly a 30 month supply. Yikes.
So, that should hopefully help put this months numbers somewhat in perspective and give you a sense of where we’ve come from (a dark, dark place) and where we’re going (still in the tunnel, but with glimmers of light at the end).
But enough of my charts and jibber jabber. Let’s get down to the business at hand and start breaking down the May Home Sales numbers the only way I know how: AAKT style. Enjoy!
You know I like to start with the good news, girl!
Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
May ’09 – $83,000
May ’10 – $87,200
Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is (slightly) up.
May ’09 – $75,000
May ’10 – $76,600
Days on market is … down! Yes, really!
May ’09 – 125
May ’10 – 116
And then there’s some of that not-so-good news -
Total number of condo units sold is (just a teensy weensy bit) down.
May ’09 – 105
May ’10 – 104
May ’09 – $154,500
May ’10 – $152,300
May ’09 – $143,500
May ’10 – $138,000
May ’09 – $308,500
May ’10 – $286,800
May ’09 – $246000
May ’10 – $240,800
May ’09 – $155,500
May ’10 – $153,700
May ’09 – $138,000
May ’10 – $135,000
Conventional loans were once again slightly up…
May ’09 – 464
May ’10 – 476
…while FHA loans were way, way, way up.
May ’09 – 198
May ’10 – 322
And here’s the “Honey, maybe we’ll wait this thing out after all” news-
The number of new residential listings was only slightly up...
May ’09 – 2,428
May ’10 – 2,470
…as were the number of new condo listings.
May ’09 – 273
May ’10 – 310
Finally there’s the “I can’t believe my eyes!” news -
May ’09 – $242,600
May ’10 – $237,300
May ’09 – $188,900
May ’10 – $179,800
- Knoxville residential and condo sales are continuing their comeback tour. Let’s hope it lasts through the summer!
- Lower end home prices saw some growth, most likely due to the First Time Home Buyer tax credit that expired in May, but higher priced homes didn’t get so lucky this time around.*
- Days on market is down for the first time in my real estate blogging career. Stay tuned to see if this was just a home buyer tax credit fluke or the start of an upward trend in the market (please be the latter, please be the latter!).
- Conventional loans are still on the rise, but FHA loans were wildly popular, most likely because first timers looking to get the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit also like the low FHA down payment option.
- Home sellers are finally getting the old “price conquers all” adage and are lowering their list prices to get their properties sold.
- We not have officially hit bottom yet, but I swear I think I can almost see it I squint hard enough.
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.
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