In July, Closed Sales in Rutherford County were down -13.53% from last July. Pendings were down -19.42%. Inventory was down -37.23% from last July, but up +7.50% from the previous month, making two straight months with Inventory improvements in our local market. Read on for our in-depth look at the local real estate market data.
This July Listings Contracted, which have been up month-to-month the previous two months, fell sharply -11.77% from this June. Listings Closed, while down -13.53% from last July, were up +12.07% over June 2021. Median List Price, while up over 20% for the fourth consecutive month, did fall month-to-month -5.25%. Median Sale Price also dropped month-to-month (-3.55%) supporting our theory that buyers are finally beginning to push back against the price hikes saying, “Enough is Enough.”
The number to watch continues to be Inventory, which is again improved from the previous month. Daily Average Inventory was up 42 units from June, or +7.50%, sitting at an average of 602 residential units on the market daily in July. So we now have two consecutive months of Inventory improvement, but are still down -37.23% from last year. The good news is that this the best Average Daily Inventory has been in 2021. Chew on that for second… Down -37.23% is best we’ve seen this year. We NEED more listings in order for all that RED in the Listings Contracted comparisons to get back up to healthy levels and to (perhaps) keep local rents from continuing to rise.
Speaking of Rents, median rents in Murfreesboro are now up +10.9% from last year and +2.9% from just last month. A great number for our investor clients, but perhaps a little motivation for those still holding out on becoming a homeowner. To that end, Mortgage Interest Rates are currently the lowest they’ve been since early this February, averaging 2.77% (30-Yr FRM). That thanks to 10-year Treasury yields drifting lower as uncertainty grows surrounding the COVID Delta variant’s impact on the marketplace. Meanwhile, 15-year fixed rate mortgages currently remain at a historic low of 2.1%.
Supply saw mostly very slight improvements towards a balanced market, but still sit firmly in the Sellers’ advantage in all but the luxury price ranges. The only significant movement being in the $450-500K price range, where Supply jumped to 1.32 months inventory. And that is the product of an influx of “paper listings,” homes that are not yet completed, coming to market. Currently only 12 of the 52 homes listed in the $450-500K price range exist in a completed state. We did also see a number of $700K+ homes move last month. 17 listings over $700K in Rutherford County closed in July. That’s significantly more than normal, helping to push Average Sale Price up +19.98% from last year (+0.90% month-to-month) and Supply in that price range back into balance.
But when considering the overall picture of our local Rutherford County real estate market’s health, remember we like to focus on Medians, rather than Averages, so our picture is not skewed by atypical outliers. Consider for a moment the statistician’s example of average net worth of a downtown Nashville tour bus before and after Bill Gates get on it. The same can happen with luxury homes with lots of acreage, unlivable as-is homes, or even a mistaken entry in the data sources skewing our market averages. We see this especially frequently in Average List Price, where hasty agents without checks in place mistakenly input the wrong list price, sometimes not catching it for days or weeks.
If you are a buyer looking to find your new home in this very difficult market, or a seller looking to take advantage John Jones Real Estate’s LOCAL market expertise, please give us a call at 615-867-3020.
