Nashville’s housing market has been one of the hottest
Among large cities in the United States, the Nashville housing market has been one of the hottest. Nashville is ranked sixth on Zillow’s recent list of the hottest housing markets among the 50 largest metro areas in 2022. Many Nashville homes on the market are selling in less than ten days. The median price for a residential single-family Nashville home is $461,620. That’s up 25.7% from last year. Condominiums in Nashville have a median sale price of $319,690, up 23% from last year.
According to Zillow, the most active real estate market in the country is Tampa, Florida, followed by Jacksonville, Florida, and Raleigh, North Carolina. Zillow predicts annual home price growth to continue rising through the rest of spring, peaking around 22% nationwide in May before gradually slowing through next year.
Nashville is a seller’s real estate market. Home buyers are often forced to compete resulting in higher prices and/or quicker sales that tend to benefit sellers. Housing inventory in Nashville has been below a six-month level for a long time but it’s never been this tight. Currently there’s a one month supply of inventory. According to brokers, Nashville is witnessing a record number of out-of-state purchasers, due in large part to lower taxes. Nashville has seen an influx of buyers coming from larger markets like Seattle, New York, and California. Nashville’s quality of life and relative affordability in the US makes it a great place to invest or buy a house.
Inventory at the end of March 2022 was 2,298 units for sale. That was a decrease of 12.52% year-over-year. A housing shortage will remain in 2022, keeping Nashville home prices high.
Though not all agree with that figure, the prediction shows we remain in a very hot real estate market — an unwelcome sign for those hoping to purchase their first home — now dealing with buyer fatigue, wondering if it’s even possible.
Time is running out for buyers hoping to get into the market as mortgage rates slowly rise. For those looking at buying a $400,000 house and put 3.5% down on an FHA loan, they’d need to put $500 away every month for two years to come up with $14,000. With rents in Nashville hovering around $1,800 that may be difficult.
“The reality is that the cash buyers and those that put down the largest amounts are the people most likely to win in a competitive situation,” said Jeff Checko, a realtor with The Ashton Group of RE/MAX Advantage. “Look, people have to take a disciplined approach to saving. That’s the bottom line.”
It’s very important to pay off any outstanding debt before seeking a home loan.
“If you can pay some of those credit card debts and save that money to put down, I’d say right now at least 10% of the purchase price to be able to compete,” Kate Goeringer said, with Brick Realty. “The seller’s not necessarily going to be concerned if you can put 15%, versus 10, versus 20… I would say get as much loan from the bank as you can to use your cash in order to entice the seller to pick your offer.”
The more you put down, the better, but there are various loan types and down payment assistance programs that one could use.
Nashville had a robust real estate market in 2021. Final 2021 statistics show that 47,172 homes were sold in the region, up 5% from 44,850 in 2020, according to Greater Nashville Realtors. In Middle Tennessee, the median home price increased by approximately 22.4%.