The Greater Nashville area set a record with 47,285 residential sales in 2021, Greater Nashville Realtors records show, eclipsing the old record of 44,824 sales set in 2020. This is a surprising number since the area has experienced agonizingly low inventory for more than two years.

Certainly, selling almost 3,000 more properties than ever during a pandemic while fighting low inventory, shortages in building materials and an unstable workforce is difficult to comprehend.

What is even more incomprehensible is the amount of cash flowing into the residential real estate market in Davidson County. Into 2019, another record-setting year, there were 526 properties that sold for $1 million or more in Nashville. That was considered an enormous number at the time.

In 2020, that number rose to 660 sales. Last year, there were 970 homes selling for $1 million-plus, an increase of more than more 47%.

There were increases across the board in million-plus categories, including:

• $1 million-$1.2 million: 219 in 2021, 148 in 2020

• $1.2 million-$1.5 million: 280 in 2021, 196 in 2020.

• $1.5 million-$3 million: 365 in 2021, 283 in 2020

• $5 million-plus: 20 in 2021, 10 in 2020.

There is no end in sight.

Sale of the Week

Situated on a 1.38-acre lot on the corner of Glen Eden Drive and Westview Drive in the heart of Belle Meade is a midcentury modern home with most of its 5,216 square feet in the main level. The second level, consisting of 951 square feet, houses a bonus room above the garage.

The house, which had been completely renovated, sold in hours for $3.1 million after being listed by the Green Hills office of Fridrich and Clark.

Kristin Reed Gallimore was the listing agent and priced the home at $2.995 million, a price that spawned a bidding war. Donnel Milam, a fixture in the Brentwood Fridrich and Clark office, delivered the buyer and won the war.

Interestingly, and this always happens in these multiple-offer scenarios, one of the suitors wanted to offer $2.5 million to begin the conversation. It was a short conversation. As the country song goes “What part of no don’t you understand?”

With the sale going down at $3.1 million with square footage of 5,216, the price per square foot for the home was $594, a number that would have sent shock waves through the community in years past, yet hardly raised an eyebrow in this market.

Gallimore described the home as a renovated ranch that had been thoughtfully maintained with four bedrooms featuring ensuite bathrooms. He also noted the home has “an EV charger.”

That’s an electric vehicle charger for the older readers. In this case, it is used for a Tesla. Such modes of transport are helpful in lessening dependence on oil, not much help for the mountaintops. Decisions, decisions.

The best way to follow market trends is to monitor sales of the same property over a period of time. In most cases, such a study is challenging since the same property does not often turn over numerous times.

In the case of 501 Westview, this is our lucky day. The house has sold seven times during the past 45 years, providing a sound foundation for Belle Meade property values since 1977 when the home sold for $98,000.

In 1980, new owners purchased the house for $131,000 and held it until 1989, selling for $242,500. In 1994, the house sold for $535,000.

But wait, there’s more.

The property sold again in 1997 for $650,000, and then in 2011 for $1.09 million. A scant five years later, it had appreciated to $1,432,500.

In the 11 years between 2011 and 2022, the property more than doubled in value, selling for $3.1 million.

Again, there is no end in sight.

Richard Courtney is a licensed real estate broker with Fridrich and Clark Realty, LLC and can be reached at [email protected].