As the novel coronavirus continues, the real estate market faces an uncertain future. When COVID-19 started making major headlines in March, Realtor.com reported the number of homes year-over-year declining at a rate of 15.7%. Even with this decline, however, the average selling price rose 3.8% to $320,000. Fast forward a few months, and Realtor.com is now forecasting mortgage rates to continue to decrease and remain between 2.9 and 3.2% – lows of which have never been seen. With total home sales decreasing by 15%, the average price is expected to grow by a percentage point.
Now the housing market faces a new concern: a shortage of homes. Even in a market that is currently facing an economic disaster, there appears to be a strong demand for new homeownership. This concern has only exacerbated since January, when the supply of available homes was 12% lower than 2018.
Certainly, different regions of the United States have experienced varying levels of economic hardship. The Tri-Cities, TN/VA region has fared better than some. Mirroring similar results from the nationwide real estate market, the Northeast Tennessee Association of REALTORS® released their monthly report. They found home sales were down almost 18% in April. However, average prices jumped 15% YOY. In total, over $106 million worth of real estate was sold in April. While the shortage of homes continues to be a concern, most experts view the real estate market rebounding in the third and fourth quarter of the year. Check out our Real Estate Market Report below for Northeast Tennessee.
