By DON FENLEY

Sullivan and Washington counties again rank among the U.S. housing. markets least likely to face a housing downturn. That’s a local headline look at ATTOM’s current Housing Risk Report. Sullivan and Washington are ranked because they met the data benchmark for the analysis. Sister counties like Greene and Carter have similar market conditions but didn’t meet the cutoff.

The analysis scored 580 counties on their vulnerability to housing trouble. Sullivan ranked third least risky among the Tennessee counties. Washington ranked sixth. Nine Tennessee counties made the 50 least at-risk markets. Four were in Northeast Tennessee. They are:

• Knox
• Sullivan
• Blount
• Washington

ATTOM scored counties on four measures that include: the share of homes facing possible foreclosure, the share with seriously underwater mortgages, the share of average local wages needed to cover major ownership costs on a median-priced single-family home, and the local unemployment rate.

Sullivan’s numbers help explain its standing. Homeowners there needed 21.1% of annualized wages to cover major ownership costs. That’s the lowest burden among the Tennessee counties that land well below the levels seen in higher-priced markets such as Williamson County, where the figure reached 59.7%. Sullivan’s foreclosure rate was 0.04% of properties, its underwater share was 2.7%, and its unemployment rate was 3.7%.

Washington County carried a slightly higher cost burden at 30.5% of wages, with 2.3% of mortgages underwater, a 0.05% foreclosure rate and 3.4% unemployment.

Chattanooga’s Hamilton County and neighboring Bradley County, home to Cleveland, narrowly missed the state’s least-at-risk tier. The county with the least risk was Rutherford. The county with the highest risk was Maury. Most of the Tennessee counties in the report have rankings in the upper 400s to the high 500s. The U.S. county with the lowest risk ranking is Chittenden in Vermont (580). The county most at risk is Charlotte in Florida (1).

ATTOM drew its conclusions from its most recent affordability, equity, and foreclosure reports, with unemployment figures from federal data. Counties with the highest composite scores across the four categories were judged least vulnerable; those with the lowest were considered most at risk.

Tennessee’s counties and their ranking include:

Categories: REAL ESTATE