2021 continues to break historic records in the real estate industry. While interest rates have continued to rise slowly since the beginning of the year, it appears to have had no effect on the demand of homes in the Tri-Cities real estate market. In fact, the availability of homes dropped to another record low: 1.4 months of available inventory of homes. Considering the average residential home went from listing to close in around two months, this is concerning. It means the market cannot sustain the amount of demand from buyers. Like most of 2020, home sellers continue to have the upper hand in negotiations. With multiple buyers bidding on the same home, the average selling prices in all three metropolitan areas: Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol, TN/VA, have skyrocketed.
In some cases, REALTORS® are calling for “highest and best“, which means interested buyers are required to submit their highest and best offer by a predetermined time. Thus, giving sellers multiple offers to consider – often higher than the asking price. Johnson City was the strongest market last month, with an increase in the average selling price year-to-date of almost $70,000. While Bristol, TN and Bristol, VA saw negative growth in the total number of homes sold for February, they still sold for a staggering premium: $20,668 and $33,717, respectfully. Regardless of the number of homes sold, it’s clear that the Tri-Cities real estate market is doing more with less.
