There was a 27% decrease in Middle Tennessee sales year-over-year in April, numbers from the Greater Nashville Realtors reveal. There were 3,818 closings in the area in April 2022 compared to 2,753 this year.

It appears May will show numbers closer to 2022 as there were 3,196 pending sales at the end of April compared with 3,282 pending sales at the same time last year.

If the US Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling and the financial world collapses, all bets are off and, recently, real estate contracts have included clauses that allow buyers to terminate the contract should Congress decide to allow the world economy to implode.

The Greater Nashville Realtors included in their monthly report transactional information from April 2019, which featured 3,479 sales. That number is well below the 3,818 sales in 2022, which shows interest rate hikes have a greater effect on real estate sales than a pandemic.

Yet, despite it all, prices are on the rise. The median price for a single-family home in April 2022 was $326,000 and now rests at a lofty $468,300. Condos have followed suit with a median price of $326,000 in 2022 and $337,628 in 2023.

In 2019, before the deluge, the median prices were a lowly $306,970 for a single-family house and $229,000 for a condominium.

There seems to be some confusion as to what exactly constitutes a condominium. In the Middle Tennessee area, the term condominium reflects high-rises, flats, townhomes and anything with documents declaring it to be a condominium. There can be three structures side by side built by the same contractor using the same building plans with one designated a condominium and one being classified as a duplex. One might be a part of a PUD, or planned unit development.

Inventory rose slightly from 8,677 in March to 8,778 at the end of April, which is significant based on sales being off 27% and inventory rising slightly more than 1%. Houses selling for $1 million or more continued to outpace the rest of the market, although unit sales lagged year over year.

In April 2022, there were 111 sales for $1 million or more, while last month there were only 89 transactions, 19.8% decrease versus the 27% overall drop.

There is a 3.5-month supply of homes in the market, which favors sellers. A six-month supply in inventory is the perfect balance favoring neither buyer nor seller, the National Association of Realtors tells us.

Prices are rising, inventory is ticking upward, transactions are slowing and it is a sellers’ market. Sometimes two plus two does not equal four. Welcome to Nashville.

Sale of the Week

One segment of the market that is hitting on all cylinders is the upper-end condominium market, as evidenced by the sale at the HYVE, another development that took a mainstream word and spelled it in an unconventional manner and then accented the brand by going all uppercase lettering.

This unit, officially known as 635 Seventh Avenue South, #3F, is one of 83 units in the HYVE and the condos are swarming with activity. Alyssa Cervantes, a veteran of luxury condominium sales and one of the stars of the real estate firm now known as Parks, is the keeper of the HYVE, as well as the listing agent. She sold the 1,569-square-foot condo for $1,999,999 or $1,275 per square foot.

Apparently, the thirst for NOOSTR, aka a non-owner-occupied short-term rental, cannot be quenched in the City of Music. Cervantes had this to say about the listing; “Neighboring Jack White’s Third Man records, HYVE is located in Pie Town.”

For those unfamiliar with the area now known as “Pie Town,” Alyssa offers guidance, noting that it is “across the street from the convention center and only steps away from Broadway and the Gulch.”

Pie Town is the shape of a wedge of pie, with the three defining borders being Eighth Avenue, Murfreesboro Road and I-40. And it includes Mulberry Street. The Pie Wagon restaurant was a half-mile away from Pie Town, but is has gone the way of Rotier’s and La Hacienda in Woodbine. Perhaps Rotier’s was in Burger Town all along and no one knew it.

Cervantes’s listing describes the three-bedroom, two-bath unit as having massive balconies, sweeping downtown views, modern, high-end finishes, high ceiling and appliances. The guest amenities include an elevated pool deck with private cabanas, fitness center, community lounge and pet grooming area.

The NOOSTR sales continue to thrive, especially in the HYVE.

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