Sales numbers for March show a 7% decrease from the 3,063 closings for March 2023, a report from the Greater Nashville Realtors shows.

“After two consecutive months of strong sales data, a lift in interest rates once again became factor for consumers,” says Kevin Willson, president of the Realtors group.

He wasn’t just whistling “Dixie,” not that anyone would dare whistle “Dixie” in public these days.

“Despite softer sales, the median sale prices for both single family homes and condos in the Greater Nashville market continue to rise, supporting that home ownership is a strong investment,” Wilson says.

There were 3,006 sales pending at the end of March compared with 2,954 pending sales in March last year, so sales numbers should rise next month. As Wilson mentioned, the price for a single-family home rose from $465,000 in March 2023 to $493,220 in March 2024. Condos kept pace, jumping from $327,885 to $339,900.

Inventory remains the enemy of the people with March inventory holding at 9,404, or a three-month supply. Most economists say a six-month supply is neutral favoring neither buyer nor seller. Anything less than six months suggests a “buyer’s market,” and anything more is considered a “seller’s market.” A three-month supply leans heavily in favor of the sellers.

NAR settlement

As had been reported by anyone and anything with a web presence, a television signal, radio capabilities or even a set of vocal cords, the National Association of Realtors reached an $18 billion settlement recently to keep buyers’ agent from being paid by sellers unless the sellers really, really want to pay the fee.

I have bought and sold 30-40 properties through the years. When I sell properties, I am excited to pay someone to deliver a buyer with the money to pay me. But the Department of Justice is here to help, and they do not see it that way.

The settlement, by the way, has not been approved by the courts. For those selling homes, they can still pay buyers’ agents if they so desire. It is not outlawed.

Sale of the Week

There are times when buyers and sellers are not in harmony on choosing a listing price. In those cases, the buyers will win since they are the keepers of the cash. As properties accumulate days on the market, prices subside.

956 Tyne Blvd

Usually, however, they shrink to an accurate assessment, as the adage “it’s worth what someone will pay for it” is the only real determination of what anything in any market is worth.

Such was the case of the property at 956 Tyne Boulevard, which sold last week for the hefty price of $5.2 million.

For most. selling a home for more than $5 million is nothing short of a miracle, a dream come true. Even in this local real estate market, which is seemingly swimming in cash, only seven houses in Nashville this year on lots of 5 acres or less have sold for more than $5 million.

The sellers should be dancing on their 4.53-acre lawn, but $5.2 million is $1.5 million less than the listing price of $6.7 million, and only one house on a lot less than 5 acres had sold for that number. It once was listed for $9.75 million.

At one point, the sellers and their agents, Trudy Byrd and Rita Puryear, decided $6.7 million was a sound number, and the duo of Byrd and Puryear knows its was around a high-dollar listing. After 26 days on the market, a strong test, the price was reduced to $5,999,999. Three months later, the price was adjusted, as they say, to $5.4 million, and the buyer descended onto 956 Tyne Boulevard.

The home’s $772 per square foot is higher than three of the other five homes that sold for $5 million-plus on lots of 5 acres or less. The house has five bedrooms, four full baths and two half bathrooms, all within its 6,731-square-foot frame.

The requisite four-car garage was present and accounted for, along with a screened porch and an additional 992 square feet of unfinished space upstairs.

The price finds the house when the house finds the price.

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