By DON FENLEY GRAY, Tenn. – Rising mortgage rates, stock market volatility, and inflation concerns have pushed Tri-Cities luxury existing housing sales down by 31% since May. But while… Read More

TRI-CITIES, Tenn. – The local jobs economy recovered from its July doldrums and was back in full force in August. Last month’s seasonally adjusted total shows 200 new jobs. That… Read More

BY DON FENLEY JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.  –  About 1,800 new residents set up housekeeping in the Johnson City area during the first eight months of this year. And almost half… Read More

By DON FENLEY TRI-CITIES, Tenn. – Realtor.com’s current rental affordability report shows many are spending more than a quarter of their monthly budgets (26.4 percent) on re… Read More

By DON FENLEY TRI-CITIES, Tenn. – Risk is a top concern at the family dinner table, city halls, and small business offices these days. Between a volatile stock market, a stubborn infla… Read More

By DON FENLEY GRAY, Tenn. – One of the primary forward-looking monthly housing reports is down for the fourth straight month. Sellers accepted 868 new contracts, down 20 from July and… Read More

By DON FENLEY GRAY, Tenn. – Tri-Cities sellers are getting an average of $11,000 more per townhome/condo sale in the Tri-Cities region while the number of sales are down 26% from… Read More

BY DON FENLEY GRAY, Tenn. – Tri-Cities commercial real estate (CRE) transactions continued a steady growth pattern in August. So far this year, 393 transactions have been finalized for… Read More

By DON FENLEY GRAY, Tenn. – Cash deals get outsized attention from real estate professionals and the public although they account for only about one-in-three existing home sales. … Read More

By DON FENLEY TRI-CITIES, Tenn. – Two years after the pandemic and the massive government intervention and mortgage industry efforts to prevent defaults, Tri-Cities foreclose starts ar… Read More

This is an updated version of the second-quarter affordability index first published in late June. The housing market reached an inflection point of sorts in early September. The weekly aver… Read More

By DON FENLEY GRAY, Tenn. – The Tri-Cities area’s red-hot housing market is beginning to show cracks. August sales were down from last year, and the sales price increased. But th… Read More

By DON FENLEY GRAY, Tenn. – A new analysis from Attom Data Solutions shows the average vacancy rate for single-family rentals in the Tri-Cities area – including Greeneville &ndas&hell…Read More

By DON FENLEY TRI-CITIES, Tenn. – The local cohort waiting for home prices to crash keeps on waiting and waiting. Given current conditions and the best data-driven crystal ball gazing… Read More

By DON FENLEY GRAY, Tenn. –  Vacant land sales are taking a respite from last year’s frantic pace. But that doesn’t mean it’s a down market, according to the Nor… Read More

By DON FENLEY TRI-CITIES, Tenn. – Unlike the surprise the national economy delivered by producing double the number of new jobs economists expected, the local job creation machine sput… Read More

By DON FENLEY  TRI-CITIES, Tenn. – One of the most watched items in today’s housing market is how much sales are declining. Mass media headliners make it sound like it… Read More

By DON FENLEY GRAY – Tenn. – The Tri-Cities housing market is pushing back against a sales slump. The market is responding to shifts in monetary policy and consumer preferences… Read More

By DON FENLEY GRAY, Tenn. – Inventory will be the key metric for market stabilization in the coming months. So far this year, active inventory has gained every month since April… Read More

GRAY, Tenn. – Tri-Cities commercial real estate transactions were almost 11 percent better than the first seven months last year. July’s sales and leases were the same volume as… Read More

By DON FENLEY KINGSPORT, Tenn. –  The no vacancy signs may not be posted at Tri-Cities apartment complexes. But that’s the condition that prevails. Separate reports from the… Read More

By DON FENLEY TRI-CITIES, Tenn. – The area’s new home industry is steadily moving toward production levels not seen for almost two decades. According to Census reports, builders… Read More

TRI-CITIES, Tenn. – An example of “a rising tide lifts all boats” is playing out in the region’s stressed properties market. The dramatic equity gains from the last t… Read More

GRAY, Tenn. – July’s Tri-Cities area home sales were down from last year while prices continued their roller-coaster ride. One example of that ride is the Piney Flats average exi… Read More

GRAY, Tenn. – Homeowners continued increasing their listing price for the seventh straight month in July. The only sign of them yielding to a slower market is the rate that they’… Read More

By DON FENLEY TRI-CITIES, NE Tenn. – Home prices are still on a roller-coaster ride, and so is the local share of equity-rich homeowners. Over half of the mortgaged properties in the T… Read More

The Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly jobs report has an adjusted and unadjusted version. June was one of those months you want to pay attention to the adjusted numbers. The seasonally adju… Read More

According to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) weekly Market Pulse report, there’s a simple answer to the frequently asked question: “When are home prices c… Read More

James Phillips was busy putting the finishing touches on his new apartments last Thursday afternoon. It was hot and humid. He and his crew were powering through the job because new renters w… Read More

June was another banner month for the local labor market – if you look at the adjusted numbers that smooth out the market’s volatility. Employers added 1,100 jobs from the May ad… Read More

The Tri-Cities’ relocation and population growth efforts got another bite at the apple this week. The Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Markets Index has the two metro areas ran… Read More

Tri-Cities area pending homes declined for the third straight month in June. Sellers accepted 851 new contracts, down 27 from May and 10% fewer than June last year, according to the Northeas… Read More

All-cash deals increased to 33% of all sales last month while VA loans continued to have both the highest average and median sales price in June and for the first six months of this year. Al… Read More

Existing home sales continued their snail’s pace retreat in July, with one exception. At the same time, the inventory of homes for sales is increasing at an equally slow pace. Greenevi… Read More

The Tri-Cities commercial real estate transactions were up by 50% from June last year and the six-month trend is 13.4% higher than the first half of last year. There were 42 completed sales… Read More

Cash on steroids was king of the Tri-Cities area condo sales market in June, according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors. The association’s weekly Market Pulse report… Read More

As expected, the number of Tri-Cities properties with foreclosure filing saw a big increase during the first half of this year. It’s a fact that they are slowly creeping back toward pr… Read More

Tri-Cities area home sellers haven’t signed onto the reducing prices trend that is beginning to get a lot of media attention, according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realto… Read More

The first half of 2022 has been a mixed bag for housing. Much of it had more to do with consumer confusion and lack of confidence fed by pundits harping on bubbles and crash theories that wh… Read More

Vacant land sales are showing signs of slowing, according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) Sales listed on NETAR’s Commercial Multiple Listing Service (CMLS)… Read More

May was the best job creation month this year, ditto for city-level employment and labor force gains. Employment was up by 415 people from last year in the twin cities of Bristol, Va., and B… Read More

Washington and Sullivan counties’ housing affordability has dropped to record lows. Sullivan’s median home price payment is 50% higher than last year. It’s 35% higher in Wa… Read More

Tri-Cities home flipping changed little from last year’s sales trend during the first quarter of this year. It remains an integral part of the local market – especially for buyer… Read More

Cash sales have accounted for about one of every three local existing home sales since the first of the year. That was down in May and well below the peaks a decade ago. And despite persiste… Read More

The Tri-Cities labor market had its best jobs-gain month of the year in May. It added 700 non-farm jobs. At the same time, the unemployment rate made a slight increase to 3.4%. In general te… Read More

One advantage of looking at 12 months of home sales data ending every month is a better trend picture. Here are a couple of examples from June’s analysis: Greeneville is the only Tri-C… Read More

While there is some softness in overall existing home sales, the $500,000 and above existing market continues booming. Last month there were 101 sales. That is more than twice the number sol… Read More

A forward-looking housing market metric has flashed another declining sales signal for NE Tenn. – SW Va., according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors. Sellers accepted… Read More

There were 25 mortgaged properties with foreclosure filings in May. That’s almost double the number from May last year and significantly fewer than what it has been during normal times… Read More

Higher interest rates and inflation have had mixed effects on the local commercial real estate (CRE) market so far this year.  That may change some when June’s report is released… Read More

Anyone who reads housing market blogs, newsletters, or mass media reports has come across the claim that sellers are beginning to scale back prices. Altos Research called price reductions a… Read More

Home sales prices are not the only double-digit increases showing up. First-quarter loans took a big hit. According to Attom Data Solutions, the number of Tri-Cities total loan originations… Read More

The Tri-Cities jobs market tiptoed over the recovery line in April; however, Kingsport and the Twin Cities are still struggling with a workers’ shortage and an economy that’s lag… Read More

Slim inventory and apartment investors making up for the region’s low rents continue putting pressure on renters. CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rent Index is up 13.6% from last year… Read More

The regional condominium/townhome market mirrors much of the existing home resales but with at least one notable exception. Listings are spending much less time on the market than single-fam… Read More

The Tri-Cities labor market has crossed another “recovered” benchmark. The region has 400 more jobs than before the pandemic according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics adjusted… Read More

NOTE: The Census Bureau has added its contribution to the often-talked-about topic of population growth. Any of the discussions should contain the disclaimer that population counts are diffi… Read More

Existing home sales continue their slow decline in May. So far this year, they have declined by an average of 0.4% per month even as more new residents continue moving here. That’s a t… Read More

According to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) vacant land prices are holding up well in market that is slowing from last year’s torrid pace. April area sales wer… Read More

Higher mortgage rates, the continued lack of inventory, declining affordability, and inflation took a bite out of April’s pending sales, according to the Northeast Tennessee Associatio… Read More

Tri-Cities area homeowners continue benefiting from rising home prices. Attom Data Solutions’ current Home Equity & Underwater Report shows the share of equity rich mortgaged prope… Read More

The local commercial real estate (CRE) market continues moving forward despite higher interest rates and inflation. According to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) and t… Read More

The Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) is reporting that cash sales are increasing in the local market as they are nationwide. But unlike the national tenor, they are not se… Read More

Tri-Cities mortgage rates are no longer at record lows, but delinquent mortgages and foreclosure filings are. But that could change during the second quarter, according to Rick Sharga, execu… Read More

April’s housing reports point to a Tri-Cities area housing market on the cusp of taking a hiatus from its break-neck pace. It’s unlikely to be the bust some predict, but it&rsquo&hell…Read More

According to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR), uncertainty took a toll on NE Tenn. home sales last month. April’s sales were down 18 (2.2%) from March and down 5… Read More

For anyone who does the property taxes math, housing is a good deal in the Tri-Cities region and Greeneville. Attom Data Solution’s 2021 Property Tax  Analysis illustrates the poi… Read More

The local hyper-competitive housing market has raised the benchmark for just about all existing home sales categories. Luxury homes sales are no exception, according to the Northeast Tenness… Read More

Tri-Cities employers kept the sizzle on the recovery last month. They added 1,400 new jobs – 400 when seasonally adjusted. And the region’s unemployment rate dropped below 3% for… Read More

March’s pending sales were a replay of February when buyers rushed to lock in mortgage rates before the next increase. Sellers accepted 917 new contracts last month – 191 more th… Read More

March was one of those months when real estate reports were in the up and down mode across the region. Vacant land sales were up 21% from the previous month but down 21.9% from March last ye… Read More

Most pandemic-initiated moratoriums are history, and lenders are beginning to resume foreclosures. Still, foreclosure activity in the Tri-Cities region remains well below historical levels… Read More

The Tri-Cities area housing market is beginning to look more like what experts expected. They predicted higher mortgage rates, continued double-digit price increases, and a lack of inventory… Read More

Tri-Cities delinquency rates posted big year-over-year declines in the current CoreLogic loan performance insights report. A drop in mortgage delinquencies and the foreclosure rate is good n… Read More

The Johnson City metro area’s housing has again been tagged as a hot housing market heating up by Reltor.com. March’s Hotness Report identified the Kingsport-Bristol’s mark… Read More

Realtor.com has released survey data that shows homeowners are gearing up to sell this spring and summer. According to the report, 64% of prospective 2022 sellers anticipate doing so within… Read More

While the Tri-Cities labor market is on a job-creation hot streak, the region’s two metro markets are experiencing uneven growth. The same thing can be found in the latest employment r… Read More

The Tri-Cities labor market had another strong month in February. Employers added jobs, and an upward revision of previous totals offered a more robust picture of the region’s recovery… Read More

Flipped single-family and condo sales set a new local record in 2021. According to Attom Data Solutions, 702 single-family homes and condos were flipped. That was up 16% from 2020 and a 72%… Read More

Rising rents, affordable housing, and efforts – sometimes defeated by neighbors – to build new apartments get as much attention in the Tri-Cities these days as home sales. In man… Read More

Hawkins Co. flexed its growth muscles in 2021, according to Census data released this week. Its estimated population was 1% higher than its 2020 census total. That was the highest growth rat… Read More

Trend tracking is one advantage of looking at the housing market by monthly 12-month increments. That metric began signaling early last fall that existing home sales were plateauing after in… Read More

There was a slight increase in new NE Tenn. unemployment claims in the latest state report while continued claims continued a five-week decline. That dovetails with a flurry of local labor m… Read More

The sun is out. The weather invites getting out and about. And it doesn’t take long to find new residential and commercial construction is spouting like spring weeds. New restaurants a… Read More

Foreclosure activity across the nation picked up in February, but not in the Tri-Cities. Attom Data Solutions’ U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows new filings up 11% from January and… Read More

East Tennessee consumers backed off new real estate loans in the last quarter of 2021, and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) says the industry has entered a purchase era. Refinance loan… Read More

Home sales were flat in February, while the persistent low inventory kept prices in double-digit gain territory. There was one fewer closing than there were on Jan. 2 and nine fewer than Feb… Read More

One of the most-repeated  questions  these days is, “Do you know of any rentals.” There’s a current report from Attom Data Solutions to lists the number and numbe… Read More

Almost one-in-three residential properties in the Tri-Cities are rental properties, and 95.2% are occupied. The same crunch exists in the apartment market. And the inventory of homes for sal… Read More

Existing Tri-Cities homes sales for the 12-months ending Feb. 10 were down. That was expected. Housing market economists and experts said months ago the market was on the cusp of moderating… Read More

2-minute, 18-second readThe new home surge is on the way. Builders pulled 35 new home permits in Johnson City and Kingsport during January. That’s a little more than double the number… Read More

2-minute, 30-second readThe COVID-19 pandemic affirmed the old saw that a rising tide lifts all boats. It sounds like a contradiction, but it’s gospel for local homeowners caught in th… Read More

2-minute readRising prices and little inventory are a headache for those looking to buy a home, but owners are sitting pretty. The number of Tri-Cities equity-rich owners has almost doubled… Read More

3-minute, 30-second readTri-Cities employers added 200 jobs in December and the November total was adjusted from a gain of 400 to no change. It was the lowest jobs growth report in a year th… Read More

2-minutes, 13- second readThe larger housing markets replaced secondary and tertiary markets in the Wall Street Journal-Realtor.com winter Emerging Markets Index. At the same time, vacation… Read More

COVID and current economic conditions are so tightly intertwined the relationship should be factored into almost all short-term planning. A current example is ATTOM Data Solutions‘ Q4… Read More

Prices were up 9.5% for local condominiums and townhomes last year, but sales were down. Lack of inventory and the local preference for detached housing are the drivers for what’s a la… Read More

Foreclosure activity in the Tri-Cities dropped to an all-time low last year. Even when the federal pandemic protections were lifted, the wave of foreclosures some pundits expected didn&rsquo&hell…Read More

The benchmark for area home sales and prices moved up a few notches in December. Closings on single-family homes and condominiums were up 10.6% from last year. The median sales price rose 16… Read More

Local commercial real estate transactions ended 2021 at a decade high and are expected to perform well despite the prospects of higher interest rates, according to the Northeast Tennessee As… Read More