Housing Market Archives - Page 21 of 23

Pending Home Sales Rise in Farragut TN, Knoxville and Nationally

April 8, 2015 By Troy Stavros

The National Association of REALTORS® just released their latest Pending Homes Sales Index and it showed that homes going into contract in February increased to their highest level since June 2013.

The Pending Home Sales Index is based on pending sales of existing homes and is a great indicator of the current market. A sale is considered pending when a contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed yet. Typically the sale is finalized within 1-2 months of signing.

The report shows the Pending Home Sales Index is now 12% above February 2014. This is the highest level it has achieved since June 2013, and it has increased year-over-year for 6 months straight. The current level is above what is considered “the average level of activity” – for the 10th month in a row.

Pending Home Sales in Farragut TN and Knoxville

Knoxville area pending sales were up 13.5% year to date and the monthly numbers are up 20% compared to March of last year. Pending sales in Farragut are up 8.5% year to date and the March numbers are up 5.9%. I feel that the Farragut numbers would be higher if we weren’t experiencing a shortage of homes for sale, as active homes for sale in Farragut are down 13.8% year to date, and down 24% for the month of March. The current Absorption Rate in Farragut (months of inventory) is at only 4.22 months, when a normal amount of inventory is considered 6 months.

Here is a visual showing the National Pending Sales numbers:

What does this mean for you?

If you are considering selling a home in Farragut or Knoxville this is a clear signal that now is the time to put your home on the market. When inventory is low you can expect to sell your home faster and for closer to your asking price (provided it is priced correctly in the first place). If you are considering buying a home in Farragut or Knoxville, expect stiff competition. This isn’t the market it was a few years ago when you went in and made lowball offers. Today that will just result in someone else getting the house you love. It’s important to have a professional to guide you in the process, to help you determine if the home you like is priced correctly and assist you in negotiating a win-win scenario for you and the seller. If you are either looking to buy or sell a home in Farragut or Knoxville, contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS at 865-999-0925 via phone or text. I’d love to sit down and discuss your goals, so together we can formulate a plan to help you achieve them. I’m here to serve you! I look forward to talking soon.

Knoxville and Farragut TN Real Estate Market Snapshot – March

April 3, 2015 By Troy Stavros

Here are the most recent (March) statistics for the Knoxville and Farragut TN real estate markets.

Here are the Knoxville TN real estate market stats for March. The highlighted stats are:

Median sold price of Knoxville homes in March = $153,000
Median list price of Knoxville homes in March = $159,900
Median days on the Market for Knoxville homes = 74 days
Homes sold in Knoxville in March = 1097
Homes listed in Knoxville in March = 2569
Absorption Rate in March for Knoxville = 8.55 months
Year to Date Knoxville home sales are up 4.4% through March compared to last year.
Year to Date Knoxville home prices are up 10.74% through March compared to last year.

Here are the Farragut TN real estate market stats for March:

Median sold price of Farragut homes in March = $308,750
Median list price of Farragut homes in March = $409,000
Median days on the market for Farragut homes in March= 42 days
Homes sold in Farragut in March = 40
Homes listed in Farragut in March = 74
Absorption Rate in March for Farragut = 4.23 months
Year to Date Farragut home sales are up 24.7% through March compared to last year.
Year to Date Farragut home prices are up 14.35% through March compared to last year.

Have questions about the market or anything Knoxville or Farragut real estate related? Contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS and I’d be happy to answer any questions you have!

How Buying A Home Now = Saving $100’s Of Dollars Month

April 3, 2015 By Troy Stavros

Buying a home now may save you $100’s of dollars per month. This holds true for any buyer, but especially those who are not paying cash. The reason it effects those financing their new home, is that there are two factors that impact the amount of home you can afford. Those two factors are home prices and mortgage rates. Let’s take a look at what the experts are predicting over the next year for those two important factors:

Home Prices

100+ economists along with investment strategists, market strategists, and real estate experts were recently polled for the “Home Price Expectation Survey”. The goal of the survey was to find out where home prices are headed over the next year. The results of the survey showed that the average home price appreciation projected over the next 12 months is approximately 4.4%.

Mortgage Interest Rates

Freddie Mac’s latest “Economic & Housing Market Outlook” predicted that the 30 year fixed mortgage rate, one year from now, will be at 4.7%. Last week this same rate was at 3.69%.

What does this mean for you?

Let’s look at a couple scenarios. If you are buying a home in Knoxville priced at $250,000, the chart below shows you how much more you could be paying on a monthly basis, if you choose to wait until next year to buy a home:

Let’s say you are moving up to a higher priced home. What does it look like if you are buying a home in Knoxville for $500,000. How would it change your monthly payment?

Hopefully this helps you see how waiting to buy a home can not only make a big impact on how much home you can afford, but also what a direct impact it can have on your monthly finances. Have questions? Comments? Want to talk about getting started in searching for your next home in Farragut or Knoxville? Need to get your current home sold first? Contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS and I’d love to sit down and talk about the process and how to help you reach your goals. I’m here to serve you!

Home Price Trends in Farragut, Knoxville & Beyond

March 20, 2015 By Troy Stavros

I recently wrote an article that talked about why homeownership far outweighs renting when it comes to building net worth and also posted another article about why a billionaire says buying a home to live it is the single best investment. One of the most important factors when seeing if owning a home is a good investment, is to look at the quality of that investment over time. We can do that by looking at the home price trends in Farragut, Knoxville, and beyond. We all know from looking at the stock market that investments fluctuate. Some years they go up, other times they go down, but most experts say it’s important to buy and hold an investment to allow it to really be fruitful. That’s what we typically do with owner occupied real estate. We buy it to live in for years to come. Let’s see how our investment would have done if we bought over the last few years.

Farragut TN Home Price Trends

From 2013 to 2014 median home price went up by 15.72%
From 2012 to 2013 median home prices went down by -4.07%
From 2011 to 2012 median home prices went down by -2.64%
From 2010 to 2011 median home prices went up by 2.71%
From 2009 to 2010 median home prices went up by 2.52%
From 2008 to 2009 median home prices went down by -12.24%
From 2007 to 2008 median home prices went up by 10.55%
From 2006 to 2007 median home prices went down by -3.42%
From 2005 to 2006 median home prices went up by 6.26%
Today’s median sale price in Farragut is $315,750 compared to $265,000 in 2006.

So, these numbers show us that over the last 10 years, even going through the real estate downturn, the average home in Farragut saw a price appreciation of 15.39%.

Knoxville TN Home Price Trends

From 2013 to 2014 median home price went up by 2.66%
From 2012 to 2013 median home prices went up by 4.72%
From 2011 to 2012 median home prices went down by -1.36%
From 2010 to 2011 median home prices stayed flat at 0.00%
From 2009 to 2010 median home prices went down by -0.07%
From 2008 to 2009 median home prices went down by -5.41%
From 2007 to 2008 median home prices went down by -4.52%
From 2006 to 2007 median home prices went up by 3.74%
From 2005 to 2006 median home prices went up by 6.80%
Today’s median sales price in Knoxville is $149,900 compared to $145,000 in 2006.

This shows us that Knoxville as a whole over the last 10 years, even after the housing downturn, the Greater Knoxville area saw a price appreciation of 6.56%.

National Home Price Trends

The infographic below shows the history of appreciation in the national housing market:

What does this mean for you?

While the numbers above might not look like a home run investment as far as percentage increases go, ask yourself, what other investments can you live in and enjoy with your family? What other investments can you pay down and build equity in? What other investments can you sell after two years and keep all of the profit that you’ve made, tax free! I don’t know of any others. Plus, have you seen what your money earns in the bank lately?

The following graphic shows what experts predict as far as home price trends over the next 5 years:

Keep in mind that all of the numbers above are median averages, and always remember that real estate is local. Local, down to the side of the street you live on sometimes. Your neighborhood might be appreciating significantly more or less when compared to one across town for various reasons. This is why it’s important to find a trusted real estate advisor, who knows the local Farragut real estate or Knoxville real estate markets. If you have questions about the market in your neighborhood, or want to know how much your home could sell for today, feel free to contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS and I would love to help. I am here to serve you!

Knoxville Home Sales – Winter Housing Market Update

February 25, 2015 By Troy Stavros

You may have read some national headlines lately regarding the housing market, but how have Knoxville home sales fared? The National Association of REALTORS® recently released their Existing Home Sales report and like most typical news sources, many headlines are blowing January’s decline in home sales out of proportion to grab attention, without really looking at the numbers. Headlines such as, “Existing home sales collapse in January despite low mortgage rates”.

Anyone in real estate can share with you the common knowledge that there is a slowdown in the winter months. Many markets share this seasonality and January is where it often hits. This can be seen by the graph below. But what the news media doesn’t share is that nationally, existing home sales increased by 200,000. Knoxville home sales, in January of 2015 saw a 10.1% increase over January of 2014 and Farragut home sales saw a 33.3% increase! Over the last year, Knoxville also saw the median sales price increase by 11.62%, Farragut saw a 3.32% increase. A big reason Knoxville home sales are down in January of this year, is that the inventory of homes for sale in Knoxville and Farragut have decreased, Knoxville by 8.7% from January of last year and Farragut down 12.5%. On a month to month basis, inventory in Knoxville has decreased by 7% from December of 2014 with Farragut down 6%. You might be asking yourself, where has the inventory gone? Much of it is now under contract, as the number of homes “pending sale” increased from December of 2014 to January of 2015 by 25% in Knoxville and 27% in Farragut! This screams that buyers are in the market and that equals demand.

So demand is there, as witnessed by the graphic below showing that buyer demand is actually 3x greater than last year.

The chief economist of the National Association of REALTORS®, Lawrence Yun, mentioned what he feels is the real cause of the January slowdown: “Realtors® are reporting that low rates are attracting potential buyers, but the lack of new and affordable listings is leading some to delay decisions.”

The buyer demand is there, buyers are out looking, but they are having trouble finding their dream home amongst the low inventory.

What does this mean for you?

If your plan was to wait until Spring to sell your home in Knoxville or Farragut, that plan may not help you get the most money for your home with the fastest sale. The information above points to right now being the optimum time to go to market. If you have any questions about selling or you would like to sit down and discuss your plans, contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS® to schedule a time that works best for you. Interested in finding out how much you could sell your Knoxville or Farragut house for? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

3 Reasons Why The Current Housing Market Will Improve in 2015

January 13, 2015 By Troy Stavros

Word on the street, and by the street I mean housing economists, is that 2015 is going to see an improvement on the current housing market. While many are citing encouraging market trends which no doubt are good indicators, there have been some significant government actions of late that could have a meaningful effect on home buyers this year. Three actions in particular are worth noting.

Here are 3 reasons why the current housing market will improve this year:

The FHA (Federal Housing Administration) recently announced that it will lower mortgage insurance premiums to .85% annually. Lowering the premiums should make it easier for first time homebuyers to qualify for a loan and also afford more home as it directly effects the amount of their monthly mortgage payment.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency in December announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest lending entities, will offer loans with down payments as low as 3% to qualified homebuyers. This will open up the ability to purchase a home to a much larger buyer pool who didn’t have the ability to save 20% for a downpayment.
We’ve seen fuel prices cut nearly in half of late. This decline in gas prices will leave many people with more disposable income. For those worried about commuting it could expand their home options not only from a standpoint of distance to work, but monthly payment as well.

Have any questions about the market? Interested in learning more about buying or selling a home in Knoxville? Contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS today. I look forward to sitting down and talking with you!