Nashville Real Estate Talk

Here at NashvilleRealEsateTalk we have been tracking home buyer appointments for the last several years.  Each appointment is a listing viewed by a home buyer. In Frebruary Nashville Home buyers did not disappoint.

Over 4500 hundred showings were recorded by our appointment center. The largest number of showings since August 2009,  6 months ago.

This was despite freezing temperatures and the coldest February in 30 years.

The $8,000 Tax Rebate is seen as the principal driving force behind these numbers. You can expect Nashville Pending Home Sales for March to reflect these numbers. Closings for March and April will also be inflated by this strong showing.

If you are selling a home in Nashville, you should be receiving strong viewing right now.

Nashville Home Buyer Appointments for February 2010

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Hendersonville home sales in January showed a very slight improvement over January 2009 .  With 800 properties for sale, just 37 were sold. 

Hendersonville has for a long while been the ideal place to live. With award winning schools, access to Lake Hickory and loads of shopping, the area has had a solid market for homes over many years.

But like other Nashville areas like Brentwood and Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville is experiencing price corrections.

The Median price of a home in Hendersonville eased to just $195,000.  That’s a 15% decline in one year. The average price per sq. ft. is about $90.  Days on Market also slid to an average of 132 days from 91 in 2009.

Market forces are at work here. Job creation in the Hendersonville area has not kept pace with Cool Springs where Nissan and other large players have moved their HQ’s. 

A positive sign for home buyers who have wanted a home here, these prices are the lowest since 2005!

Click on the report to see everything

 Compare to the same period in 2009 

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Home sellers in Brentwood TN had a rude awakening in January 2010.  Just 110 homes sold in Brentwoood, TN during the month of January. 

Although this was a very slight improvement over January 2009, when just 106 properties were sold, it was far below what home sellers and Realtors were hoping for.

The other issue for Brentwood home sellers is the price of whats selling.  In 2009 the median price of a home was $356,748. But in January of 2010 the median has dropped to just $312,450.  Slightly more than 10%.  Less than $120 per sq.ft. , a price not seen in  Brentwood since 2006!

One positive note, Days On Market (DOM) for homes that sold in 2010 was 83 days!  Indicating that there are buyers out there, but they are looking for deals, when they find them, they make offers.

The takeaway from this for home sellers is: Price it well and it will sell!

For home buyers: You have an opportunity to buy into Brentwood at prices not seen since 2006! Go for it!

 Checkout Homes for sale in Brentwood

We measure the number of home showings as a way to look for trends in the Nashville Market. For August 2009, Nashville Home Buyers viewed more homes than one year ago.  As measured by Crye-Leike Realtors, Inc., the largest Realtor in Nashville. This chart shows that for August 2009 the appointment center had slightly more showings scheduled then in August 2008. A very welcome sign.

 Nashville August Appointments

Nashville Real Estate Showing top 2008 for August

Nashville Real Estate Showings have topped 2008 numbers 2 out of the last 3 months.  These numbers indicate that Nashville Real Estate is stabilizing . 

If this is true we should see more indicators of  a bottom.  Those indicators would include:

1.  Smaller inventories of Homes available throughout Nashville.

2. Slight upward movement of home prices.

We’ll be publishing those numbers later this month. 

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The Confederate Soldier stands guard on Franklin Square, Franklin Tennessee.

Home Values in Franklin and Cool Springs for 2009.

While other areas have fallen on hard times, home values in Franklin and Cool Springs Tennessee have continued to appreciate at a steady pace.

We compared home sales for the first six months of 2009 with the same period 5 years ago, in 2004.

This is what we found:

1. Only half as many homes are selling in 2009 compared to 2004. In 2004 over 870 homes had already changed hands by the end of June. This year just 438 homes have sold so far.

2. In 2004 the average Franklin/Cool Springs home sold for $323,000.  In 2009 the average home sold is $431,000

3. Homes in Franklin/Cool Springs have appreciated at a rate of 5% per year for 5 straight years.  Despite the Real Estate downturn across the nation.

4. The average price per sq.ft. in Franklin/Cool Springs has grown from $114 per sq. ft. in 2004 to $136 per sq. ft in 2009.  An increase of 20% or 4 % per year.

Here are the Graphs

Cool Springs/Franklin Home Sales Jan1-June 23 2004

                 Average Price per sq. ft. 2004 = $114,00 

Cool Springs/Franklin  Home Sales Jan1-June 23 2009 

           Average Price per sq. ft. 2009 = $136.00

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Posh Green Hills Neighborhood Over Priced?

The World famous Blue Bird Cafe in Green Hills, Nashville

The popular and trendy Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville is begining to show the effects of the 2009 Recession.  Home sales in the chic areas around the BlueBird Cafe and The Mall at Green Hills have seen sales slow and inventories of unsold homes rise.

Green Hills homes have seen consistant increases in values for many years, now those home values may be in for an adjustment.

NashvilleRealEstateTalk.com’s own Gary Rabideau crunched the numbers for us and this was what he found.

Green Hills Absorption Rate

Green Hills Home Sales for 2009 show a definite downturn starting at about $400,000.  We consider inventories of more than 6 months to be a Buyer’s Market.  In most price ranges, Green Hills homes show 11, 13 and on up to as much as 2-4 years of inventory for sale.

The only Bright spots in the Green Hills Real Estate Market would Homes priced between $200,000 and $300,000 where we found just 4 homes available but only 8 had sold in the last 12 months. That means a 6 month supply.  Certainly not a sellers market, but relatively neutral.

Likewise in the $300,000 to $400,000 where an average month has 5 sales there are 25 Homes available , a 5 month supply.  Home sellers in Green Hills who have priced there homes in those two price areas are in good shape assuming their homes are attractively staged.

However, Home sellers in the higher price ranges are swimming upstream and have two strikes against them. First the large inventories of homes for sale in Green Hills.  Secondly, these home sellers need to be aware that mortgage rates in the $400,000 and above market comes with interest rates as high as 8% ( Ouch!).

Conclusions

Home sellers in Green Hills will need to be realistic in their pricing. Home buyers looking at the Green Hills neighborhood may want to sharpen their pencils and do some real negotiating armed with this knowledge.

2009 Absortion Rates for Green Hills Neighborhood of Nashville Tennessee

What the Numbers mean for Wilson County TN Home Buyers and Sellers:

As opposed to 2008 Wilson County Home Sales are down by 36%. Wilson County Home Prices are also down by 12%.

In Mt. Juliet , both Providence and Del Webb as well as other new Home Communities have been adding 578 New Homes on average each year from 2005 to 2007. This slowed in 2007 as only 364 New Homes were sold in Mt. Juliet.  This trend continues into 2009 with less than 200 new homes sales predicted for Mt. Juliet.

With New home sales in Mt. Juliet off by 70% from the peak in 2006, new home prices are down a s well.  Home Builders in Mt. Juliet are modifying their homes to attract buyers interested in less expensive homes.

Existing Home sales in Mt. Juliet, Lebanon, Old Hickory and Hermitage TN are down just 25% since last year and prices are steady at just 3.8% below 2008 Wilson County home prices.

In Summary, although Residential growth has slowed in Wilson County, it is poised to rebound.  Looking at all the advantages for Wilson County you see:

1. Percy Priest Lake and Old Hickory Lake recreation areas

2. Interstate 40 access and just 10 minutes to Nashville International Airport

3. Light Rail- the Music City Star commuter train connects Wilson County communities to Nashville.

4. Providence Market Place plus an additional one million sq. ft. of retail space being added this fall in The Paddocks of Mt. Juliet.

5. The new 20 Year developement plan for Bel-Aire with three million sq.ft. of office space.

Wilson County, It’s a great place to Live, Work, Shop and Play.

This article provided by Gary Rabideau

Crye-Leike Realtors, Inc.

615-415-1740

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Nashville Area Real Estate Sales for March

Nashville Area Real Estate sales were steady in March. Improvements were seen as Nashville first time home buyers began to take advantage of the Federal Tax Rebate program and garner up to $8,000 for themselves.

In Nashville metro area home sales saw a 4% difference between asking price and sold price.

Homes For sale in Mt. Juliet averaged $216,000 and a home seller in Mt. Juliet could expect to wait 2 months to sell his home.

 Home prices in Brentwood and Franklin averaged $510,000 in March and 91 properties sold there.

Home sellers In Gallatin and Hendersonville were getting about $95 per sq.Ft. in March . Just over 100 homes  sold in Hendersonville and Gallatin  TN during March.

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   Nashville area home showings on rise in March

Nashville Area Home Showings for March 2009

Nashville’s largest Realtor, Crye-Leike Realtors, Inc. reported Nashville area homes  have begun to show again. Stretching back to August of 2008 monthly home showings  in the Nashville area had fallen at first below 3,000 showings and then to just barely 2300 in December.

‘These numbers are going to make a lot of Nashville area home sellers very happy” said Crye-Leike’s  Cathy Wood.   Cathy went on to share three reasons for this rebound in Nashville home showings.

First- The Governments new Tax Rebate program for first time buyers.  “$8,000 is a lot of money to first time buyer and with the new THDA  rules, many  Nashville area home buyers can even use it as a down payment”.

Second- Cathy noted the current Interest rates available to buyers. ” We’re seeing mortgage rates at 5% or lower.”  To the first time buyer that means a $100,000 mortgage for about $500 + Insurance and Taxes. “You can’t rent a home in Nashville for that”.

Lastly- The inventory.  “with over 20,000 homes available on the  Nashville MLS, there is something for everyone no matter what their taste or budget. Even here in Mt. Juliet we have almost 700 homes available for sale today 

 The Nashville average home price dropped to $223,945 from $239,085 This drop was less than half of the 15-18% on average that other cities saw this year.

 New Construction is off significantly.  New homes in Mt. Juliet’s Providence sub-division  are down 71% from last year.  Builders have become cautious and are trying to build to order.  

Jan-March homes sales in Nashville were 2708 homes vs. 4105 homes in the same period last year. Nashville faired much better than other cities where 50% declines was not unusual.

Inventories are manageable and in many cases lower than 2008.  Inventories should increase though as we pass Tax Time and homeowners in the Nashville area begin to put their properties on the market.

This also means that existing sales are faring much better than new homes. 

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