Consistent reports have shown that the Tri-Cities region’s housing market is still strong. Here’s another one that may raise some eyebrows.

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Kingsport-Bristol homeowners who sold during the past four quarters received the second-highest percentage price gains of all by one Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) and Asheville, N.C. The exception was Nashville.

According to the price gains part of Attom Data Solutions Q3 Home Sales Report only sellers in the Nashville MSA fared better than Kingsport-Bristol sellers in percentage gains. U.S. homeowners who sold in Q3 realized an average home price gain of $68,686. That represents an average 34.5% return as a percentage of the seller’s original purchase price.

Kingsport-Bristol owners who sold in Q3 saw a gain of $30,000, a percentage price gain of $39.7% from their property’s previous purchase price. The Kingsport-Bristol MSA comprises Hawkins and Sullivan counties in NE Tenn. and Scott and Washington counties in SW Va.

Attom’s definition and methodology for its price gains comparison is the difference between the median sales price of homes in a given market in a given quarter and the median sales price of the previous sales of those home homes. The gain is expressed both in a dollar among and as a percentage of the previous median sales price.

Q3 sellers in the Johnson City MSA had a higher dollar price gain than Kingsport-Bristol sellers but lagged the percentage price gain by 12.4 points. The dollar gain was $36,500 and the percentage price gain was 27.3%. The Johnson City MSA comprises Carter, Unicoi and Washington counties in NE Tenn. The two MSAs make up the Johnson City, Kingsport-Bristol TN VA Consolidated Statistical Area (CSA). Until about 20 years ago the area was one MSA, but redesignated as a CSA by the Census Bureau of Office of Management and Budget.

The percentage price performance doesn’t mean local sellers pocketed more money than sellers in other markets. Still, the percentage gain is a good illustrator of how the local housing markets are performing in the state and neighboring housing markets.

Kingsport-Bristol sellers’ dollar gains are 20% better than Q3 last year while Johnson City MSA sellers had a 13% improvement from last year.

The seven-county region has enjoyed a hot existing home sales market since May 2015. The Federal Housing Finance Administration’s (FHFA) most recent Home Price Index showed Kingsport-Bristol had the best year-over-year price improvement among all of Tennessee MSAs. And Johnson City wasn’t far behind.

Charting the percentage gain shows varying quarterly patterns for the Tri-Cities MSAs. The patterns aligned beginning Q4 2018 and stayed in sync until Q3 when Johnson City gain declined from the previous quarter and Kingsport-Bristol’s increased.

The closest performance pattern to Kingsport-Bristol for the past year has been the Knoxville MSA. The Johnson City percentage gain pattern was the third-best in Tennessee during the past four quarters and only slightly less than the U.S. The Johnson City market outperformed the Asheville market for three in the last four quarters based on the percentage price gain metric.

“The seven-year U.S. housing boom is back in high gear. After a series of relatively small price increase quarters, home prices saw quite the uptick, seller profits rose and the problem of distressed sales continued to fade, helping to make the third quarter the strongest in four years,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer at Attom Data Solutions. “That all happened as mortgage rates sank back to near-historic lows, which clearly powered the market upward along with stock market surges and a continued strong economy. There had been signs before the latest surge of a cooling market, but they seem to have diminished, at least for now.”

According to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) September Trends Report, there have been 5,337 single-family homes sales during the first nine months of this year. That’s a 4.8% improvement over the same period last year. During the same period, the average single-family resale price of $183,994 has increased by 6.3%.

The moving average trend for home sales increased sharply in September as did the moving average trend for new approved contracts.

Categories: REAL ESTATE