As the temperatures increase, so too does our local real estate market. Available inventory for the month of May stayed around 1.3 months – which is about a fifth of where the real estate market normally stays. There was a slight bump in the increase of homes available for sale on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. With this increase of homes also came with an significant increase in the total number of homes that closed last month. In fact, the 795 residential closings in May represented a 22.4% jump from last year. If there’s one key-takeaway from all of this, it’s that homes are closing faster due to more competitive offers. These competitive offers include cash deals, escalation clauses (where the buyer agrees to pay a certain amount above the highest offer, think: eBay style bidding), waiving inspections, and more. Home prices also continued their positive trajectory in May with some cities in the Tri-Cities region seeing unprecedented increases in the average price of homes. For example, the Bristol, Virginia market saw the average home price skyrocket over $90,000 compared to last year. Take a look at the infographic below to learn more about the Tri-Cities’ real estate market.
