After home sales were lower in Williamson County in June compared to the same month in 2015, the number of houses sold in July rose again above July 2015’s.
A 13 percent fall in June closings compared to last year preceded a 1.3 percent July increase from 604 to 612 closings. The median price also rose, as it has every month in 2016, over last year.
The median home price hit $452,706 in July, up from $415,000 last July.
This is all good news for a market that showed signs last month of cooling off. However, President of the Williamson County Association of REALTORS David Logan said the reason for the market drop last month – low inventory – is not something that goes away in a month.
A healthy market, he said, will have about a six month supply of houses at current demand. The Williamson County market had maybe a two month supply in July, he said.
Moreover, the kinds of houses available, mostly in the $600,000-and-up range, differ from what people want, which are houses in the $250,000-to-$400,000 range, according to Logan. Of active listings, the median price is about $600,000. The median price of a house just sold or pending is $400,000.
“There is just not much to choose from,” he said. “There is hardly any of what people do want and more, but still not much, of everything else.”
Susan Gregory, a Realtor for Parks Realty, said she has seen people scrambling for mid-range houses.
“They tend to fight over them,” she said. “You see more multiple offers – the lower the price the more often you will see that. There will be more buyers fighting over them.”
The July rise in sales seems to be more a function of the market cycle, rather than a change in the fundamental drag of low inventory.
“The market always picks up in July, anyway,” Gregory said. “It is that last push to get in a house before school starts. Every summer we see a spike before school.”
She said much of the market is made up of people moving from within the county to a larger or downsized house.
Recently, though, a significant part of the market is comprised of relocation and transfers. Company acquisitions in the area, such as Healthways being bought by out-of-state Sharecare, are bringing employees here from outside of Middle Tennessee.
“We are seeing more and more relocations of people coming to the area,” Gregory said. “It has always been and still is people that are moving up, buying a larger house, and people who are downsizing and buying smaller houses, a lot of those are local people. But in the last five to 10 years, five for sure, we are seeing more and more people transferring in and out.”
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