Executive summary
The first half of 2026 was a story of strength and motion. The market grew. Buyers pushed higher up the price ladder. The move-up range led the way, luxury proved its depth, and the affordable core held firm even as it lost a little ground to the brackets above it. The direction is clear. The Tri-Cities housing market is climbing, and the climb is lifting the whole price structure with it.
By DON FENLEY
Tri-Cities home sales were up 8.4% from the first half of 2025. Gains landed almost entirely above $160,000. The two lowest price bands lost ground. Everything above grew. The center of the market moved up, and it moved up fast.
That shift carries real weight. For move-up sellers. For first-time buyers, it points to a tighter, more expensive entry point. The affordable rungs of the ladder are thinning out.
What the numbers say
Sales grew across nearly every price band. Only the two lowest declined.
| Price band | 2026 | 2025 |
| $0–$99,999 | 182 | 184 |
| $100,000–$159,999 | 331 | 357 |
| $160,000–$299,999 | 1,683 | 1,582 |
| $300,000–$499,999 | 1,395 | 1,210 |
| $500,000 and above | 529 | 467 |
| Total | 4,120 | 3,800 |
Homes priced from $300,000 to $499,999 drove more of the region’s growth than any other segment. This is where the region’s momentum lives right now.
| Price band | 2026 | 2025 |
| $300,000–$399,999 | 888 | 838 |
| $400,000–$499,999 | 507 | 372 |
| $500,000 and above | 529 | 467 |
The $400,000 to $499,999 bracket stands out from everything around it. Growth there outpaced every other slice of the market by a wide margin. A few forces line up to explain it. Rising home values push some homes that once sold in the $300,000s into the $400,000s. Move-up buyers with strong equity reach comfortably into this range. And don’t discount the ongoing local wealth transfer. It’s moving at an estimated pace of $1 billion a year.
The affordable market remains the foundation. Homes from $160,000 to $299,999 still make up the largest single share of sales by a wide margin. Roughly 4 out of 10 closings happen here. That is the heart of the Tri-Cities market, and it stayed healthy. But it grew at the slowest pace of the three core segments. Its share of the total slipped a little as the upper brackets outran it. The affordable market did not weaken. The market above it simply grew faster.
The luxury market showed genuine depth. Sales of homes at $500,000 and above posted solid double-digit growth. That is worth noting. When luxury numbers climb, the question is always whether a handful of large deals skewed the total. That does not appear to be the case. The gain is broad enough to suggest real, sustained demand at the top of the market, not a lucky quarter.
The squeeze at the bottom
The only declines came at the entry-level. Sales under $100,000 remained roughly flat. The $100,000 to $159,999 band fell off more sharply.
This is a supply story, not a demand story. Buyers did not lose interest in affordable homes. Those homes are getting harder to find. And as values rise, homes that once sold below $160,000 now close a bracket or two higher. The inventory does not vanish. It migrates up the price ladder and out of reach for the most budget-conscious buyers.
Some of that can be attributed to the region’s wage story. While workers in the Johnson City MSA bring home a higher average weekly paycheck ($1,003.89 vs. $875.62), their wage growth over the last year (+1.2%) failed to keep pace with inflation. In terms of real earnings, Johnson City workers lost purchasing power. It was down 2.1%.
The Kingsport-Bristol area saw robust nominal wage growth of 7.6% over the same 12-month period. Because this significantly outpaced the 3.3% inflation rate, workers in this MSA saw a tangible increase in their real earnings and overall purchasing power. Purchasing power was +4.3%.
That is the quiet warning inside an otherwise strong report. The Tri-Cities market is growing, but it is growing toward the middle and the top. The most affordable end of the market is contracting. For a region that has long prized its affordability, this trend deserves attention in the months ahead.