Kingsport home prices increase in May

June 21st, 2011 Luke Mofflin Leave a comment Go to comments

Fewer previously occupied homes were sold in Kingsport during May but the average price of homes that did sell were higher than last year.

So far this year 124 homes have been sold in the Model City. During the first five months of last year 150 were sold. During May 31 homes were sold, eight fewer than during May 2010.

The price picture is better.

The average year-to-date price is $167,244. That’s $30,338 more that the average during the same period last year. The more volatile monthly average price was $211,872 in May, $95,358 more than the May 2009 average. Prices have increased three of the five months this year on both price metrics according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors Trends Reports. NETAR defines Kingsport sales as those made in the Dobyns-Bennett School Zone.

One reason for the lagging sales number is the last of the tax-credit sales were working their way through the system this time last year. That tax credit helped stabilize prices and increased the number of homes sold to first-time buyers. After it expired in April the market began adjusting itself to the new reality of more foreclosures and short sales and a glut of unsold homes on the market. Although data on the number of first-time buyers is not available for the local market, fewer homes sold to that group is attributed to the drop in national existing home sales during May.

As bad as it may sound, the housing market picture in Kingsport is not nearly as gloomy as the national picture. According to the National Association of Realtors report, May’s existing home sales sank 3.8 percent and were at the weakest pace since November. Since the housing boom went bust in 2006, sales have fallen in four of the past five years. They hit a 13-year low last year.

Read the expanded version of this report in Thursday’s print edition of the Kingsport Times-News or its enhanced electronic edition.

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