Executive Summary

June was a healthy month, led from the center. Sales and prices both rose across the region. The strength was concentrated in Johnson City and Kingsport. Both showed price power on top of volume. That is the market’s engine right now.

By DON FENLEY

June’s Tri-Cities housing home sales rose 4.5% from a year ago. The median sale price climbed 4.75% to $309,000. Both numbers moved in the same direction. That is the sign of a healthy market.

The Cities That Carried the Month

Johnson City and Kingsport did most of the region’s business. Together they had 252 sales. That’s close to a third of every sale in the region. Add Jonesborough, Greeneville, and Bristol, TN, and the top five markets account for roughly half of all June sales.

Johnson City did something worth noting. It passed Kingsport in total sales for the month. Kingsport has held the top spot for quite a while. This time Johnson City pulled ahead. It did so while its median price rose more than 16%. Rising sales and rising prices at the same time point to real demand.

Where Prices Ran Highest

Jonesborough was the region’s price leader in June. Its median topped $408,000. It reached that mark on strong sales volume.

Piney Flats and Mountain City also posted high median prices. So did Abingdon. These are smaller markets, though. Their prices can swing hard when only a dozen homes change hands.

One market needs a caution flag. Telford shows the highest median on the list at more than $409,000. Set it aside. That figure rests on just five sales. A move that large in a market that small is not a real trend. It is a quirk of low volume. Read Jonesborough as the true price leader.

Kingsport’s Quiet Strength

Kingsport told a strong price story of its own. Its median price rose over 24% from last June. That is far above the region’s overall pace. That kind of price gain signals steady demand.

Read the Small Markets With Care

Some of June’s biggest percentage swings came from the region’s smallest markets. Gate City’s sales more than doubled. Erwin’s sales jumped 60%. Those look dramatic on paper. But each rests on a small base. In a small market, a few extra sales move the percentage sharply. The same caution applies to Mountain City’s price gain and Bristol, VA’s price drop. These figures are worth a look. They are not trends yet.

Two markets were too small to rank at all. Bulls Gap and Surgoinsville each closed fewer than five homes. Numbers that small cannot support a fair comparison. They sit out this month.

Categories: CORE DATA