In November, we saw Contracts down -29.49% in Rutherford County from last year and Closings down -41.92%. Comparing to the month prior, we saw slight dips in Average & Median Sale Price and a slight decrease in Inventory. Price Per Square Foot also continued dropping, now at $211 per sq.ft. This is good news for buyers when paired with interest rates coming down from their early November peak, and sellers becoming increasingly willing to negotiate.
A quick look at Inventory, Appreciation, and Supply showed a decrease in Inventory in Rutherford County for the first time since it bottomed out last December. But with demand having also decreased amid uncertainty with volatile Mortgage Interest Rates, overall Months Supply of homes remained unchanged, still sitting at 2.3 months supply of homes. The decline in demand from our peak though, keeps driving Appreciation downward. As previously mentioned, Median Price Per Sq.Ft is now down to $211 per sq.ft. which we expect to still drop slightly before the end of the year. The good news, however, is this is still an increase from this same period last year when appreciation was in its historic rapid rise to the peak. What is so interesting is we may well end the year still showing appreciation year-over-year.
Mortgage Interest Rates again peaked in November, hitting 7.08% (30-Yr FRM) early in the month before making big drops back into the 6.5% range as we began December. We continue to see a lot of our buyers taking advantage of creative mortgage products such as Lender Incentives and new products like 2/1 rate buy-downs. We’ve had much recent success negotiating with sellers to accomplish those buy-downs for our buyers. Sellers who purchased using an FHA loan two or more years ago still remain well positioned to offer their assumable loan with a lower rate to entice buyers and still make a good return due to the record appreciation we’ve seen the past two years. Learn more on these and many other topics by tuning into our edutainment series on our social media channels. If you don’t already follow @murfreesbororealestate on Instagram, TikTok & YouTube please consider subscribing!
As always, if you are a buyer looking to find your new home in our rapidly changing local market, or a seller looking to take advantage of John Jones Real Estate’s LOCAL market expertise to sell your home faster & for more money, please give us a call at 615-867-3020. It would be our pleasure to serve you.
