The bubble has not burst, but the city is set to explode. The Greater Nashville area is on its way to yet another record-breaking year with year-to-date sales totaling 15,698, compared with 15,606 sales through May 2017, the year the record was set.
In 2006, the previous record-setting year, sales through May totaled 15,486. The years 2006 and 2017 are the only years the area has ever eclipsed 40,000 units sold.
But stay tuned.
Last year was another big year, with sales through May hitting 15,396. But sales slowed through the end of the year and totaled 39,959.
This year could go down to the wire as inventory is holding steady with 11,576 houses on the market, slightly down from 11,627 in April.
Andrew Terrell, the reigning president of the Greater Nashville Realtors, says “The Greater Nashville housing market has hit an all-time high with record breaking sales,” noting that this May is 10 percent ahead of 2018 and that the 4,172 closing were most closings that the area has ever experienced in one month.
That data provides the answer to the question of “When is the best time to put a house on the market?”
This year the answer is April, as most of the May closings went under contract in April.
Last year, the answer was May. The only other month to hit 4,000-plus closings was June.
The perennial answer is the spring.
There is more growth on the horizon, with 3,940 pending sales up for May, compared to 3,575 pending sales in May 2018. That means June will likely have 4,000-plus closings.
All this activity has pushed the median price of a single-family home from $299,900 to $318,000. Condos have followed with median prices jumping from $226,000 to $232,000.
With the mayor’s race now in full swing, there are real estate bragging rights at stake.
Megan Barry was mayor in 2017 when sales of 40,482 bumped Mayor Bill Purcell from the top spot that he had enjoyed since 2006 (40,056).
Should David Briley emerge victorious, he might be able to claim the highest number of sales in one year.
In a completely unrelated story, a local contractor purchased a Tile, a small square device that can be attached to a keyring to help find missing keys.
When activated by an iPhone or other device, the Tile emits a loud noise allowing the owner of the lost keys to locate the missing keys.
This contactor noted that he was syncing his Tile in the morning and tiling a sink that afternoon. He thought is was worthy of mention, so there it is.
Sale of the Week
The neighborhood known as 12South extends from Belmont Boulevard to Eighth Avenue South, and the house at 901 Gilmore Avenue falls into the wildly popular fun zone. Now with the success of the Waverly Belmont public elementary (K-4) school, the area is able to retain its residences following their procreation.
While education is improving, house prices are skyrocketing, even for Nashville. The home at 901 Gilmore exemplifies the upward movement in the market as the property sold for $1.45 million within four days of hitting the market.
At $394 per square foot, the house offered its buyers a “gourmet, white kitchen with quartz countertops and a butcher block island” and encompasses 3,679 square feet, according to listing agent Scott Knabe, a proud father along with being a platinum winning Realtor with Compass Tennessee, a firm making a big splash in Nashville.
Knabe listed the four-bedroom home and waited around for a few hours until Kristopher Esqueda delivered the buyer. Esqueda, his Facebook page states, moved to Nashville in March 2018 from San Francisco and has wasted no time in selling luxury homes to his clientele.
Knabe noted the home includes a DADU – not to be confused with an ADU – and Esqueda was quick to pounce that feature.
In this age of acronyms, it is often difficult to follow along with the newest abbreviations. An ADU, of course, is an accessory dwelling unit with its mate being the DADU or detached accessory dwelling unit, a separate living space that is not connected to the main unit.
Even though the home was built in 1930, it has been completely renovated, DADU and all. The home, Knabe says, includes new HVAC, plumbing and electrical updates. The master bedroom has a steam room in the bathroom.
Esqueda landed with the real estate firm now known as Village and owned by the triumvirate of Scott Evans, Zach Goodyear and Hunter Connelly, the group that acquired the firm in late December.
Richard Courtney is a licensed real estate broker with Fridrich and Clark Realty, LLC and can be reached at [email protected].