KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knoxville Area Association of Realtors said that for the first time ever, Knoxville's median home listing price rose higher than the national average. They said in the fourth quarter of 2022, the median listing price in the Knoxville area was $426,633.
They said in that same timeframe, $412,743 was the median listing price nationally. They said that by February 2023, the Knoxville median listing price was more than $42,000 higher than the U.S. average.
In a report, they said that the price trends suggest "Knoxville's brand as an 'affordable place to live' and the competitive advantage that comes with it is slowly slipping away."
The price also rose to the 47th-highest among the top 150 U.S. housing markets, according to a release from KAAR.
"Knoxville's housing market is in the early stages of what is expected to be a prolonged recovery," the report said. "Currently, there are no indications of a substantial supply surge on the horizon with new listings down 14% year-over-year in Q1 2023."
KAAR also said that housing inventory was almost unchanged in March compared to February. They also said that at the end of March, active listings in the Knoxville area were down by 36% compared to November 2022. The report also said that new listings of homes priced under $500,000 were down by 19% year-over-year.
The report also said that over 60% of all residential mortgages in Tennessee have an interest rate of 4% or below. They said it could make possible sellers hesitant to list their homes since they would face the possibility of having to take out another mortgage with a higher interest rate on a different home.
They said the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.32% for the week ending March 30, more than 2% higher than last year.
KAAR said half of the homes sold in March were under contract in 25 days or less, and new construction represented around 12.3% of all home sales.
"Tennessee experienced its largest year-over-year population increase since 2007 and surpassed 7 million residents in 2022," the report said, citing data compiled by the Tennessee State Data Center.