Tennessee’s housing market showed positive signs in nearly all categories covered in the latest quarterly report from the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center.

Although total permits for Tennessee were down more than 9 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2018 and down 8 percent from the previous quarter, the number of single-family permits issued (28,600) in the first quarter represented the second highest total since 2011.

Dr. Murat Arik

Meanwhile, multi-family permits continued to decrease, with a 42 percent drop from the previous quarter and 40 percent drop year-over-year.

Home closings and inventories for the first quarter indicate “an extended active housing market in the state,” BERC Director Murat Arik noted, with home inventories having steadily decreased in all three areas of the state.

Housing prices statewide were up 7.7 percent year-over-year, which is 1.2 percentage points higher than the national average.

Other highlights:

• The highest increase in home prices was in the Morristown MSA, recording an increase from 5.8 percent last quarter to an impressive 11.5 percent.
• Other significant price increases were seen in the MSAs for Johnson City (10.4 percent), Nashville (8.6 percent), Kingsport-Bristol (7.8 percent), and Cleveland (7 percent), which all recorded higher increases than the national average.
• Tennessee’s rate of mortgages past due was the lowest in at least 18 years.

This graphic shows the year-over-year changes from the first quarter of 2018 in categories tracked in the quarterly Tennessee Housing Market Report issued by the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center. (Courtesy of MTSU BERC)

See the full current and previous reports with detailed breakdowns and summaries by going to http://mtsu.edu/berc/housing.phpand clicking the appropriate links. 

BERC’s report is funded by Tennessee Housing Development Agency. The quarterly report offers an overview of the state’s economy as it relates to the housing market and includes data on employment, housing construction, rental vacancy rates, real estate transactions and mortgages, home sales and prices, delinquencies and foreclosures.

The Business and Economic Research Center operates under the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at MTSU. For more information, visit http://mtsu.edu/berc/. 

THDA publishes research on affordable housing, its programs and beneficiaries. THDA also coordinates state planning for housing through the Consolidated Planning process, annual Action Plans, and annual Performance Reports.  See http://thda.org/research-planning/research-planning for more information.

— Jimmy Hart (jimmy.hart@mtsu.edu)