By DON FENLEY

The Tri-Cities housing market posted a 10.3% sales gain in March, with 641 closings recorded across the nine-county region. The broad-based advance spanned most local markets, though the headline numbers were driven in part by small-market volatility on both ends of the ledger, according to data from the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR).

Mountain City and Erwin led all qualifying markets with gains of 200% and 166.7%, respectively. Mountain City logged 12 sales and Erwin 16. Percentage swings of that magnitude are common in low-volume markets where a handful of closings can move the needle sharply from month to month. Both warrant watching, but neither is signaling a structural shift on its own.

More telling are the gains registered in the region’s volume markets. Johnson City recorded 98 sales, a 34.2% year-over-year increase. The numbers reinforce its position as one of the region’s most active markets. Kingsport closed 100 transactions, up 5.3%, and Elizabethton and Blountville each tallied 25 sales with gains of 19% and 13.6%, respectively. Bristol, TN, added 34 closings, a 54.5% jump. Those results, spread across diverse price points and geographies, reflect sustained underlying demand.

The flip side of the ledger included some equally dramatic small-market declines. Gray fell 56.2% on seven sales and Rogersville dropped 52.2% on 11 transactions. Like the outsized gains, those figures reflect month-to-month variability more than market deterioration.

The regional median price came in at $282,000, up 4.4% from a year ago – a signal that pricing fundamentals remain intact even as individual markets diverge. Blountville posted the strongest median price gain at 30.5%, reaching $399,755. Johnson City’s median edged down 5.4% to $353,325, and Kingsport’s fell 12.8% to $278,000, though both remain among the region’s highest-volume markets.

Consumer concerns over geopolitical events have not yet shown up in the Tri-Cities housing market, where demand indicators have continued to track positive through the first quarter.

Categories: REAL ESTATE