In a new economic report from Middle Tennessee State University, the state’s housing market again showed positive signs, as home prices continue to rise “exponentially” across the Volunteer State, though home sales have slightly slowed.

The MTSU Business and Economic Research Center’s statewide “Housing Tennessee” report for the first quarter of 2022 “showed mostly positive outcomes,” with home prices up 25% from the previous year across the state, noted report author Murat Arik, director of the BERC at MTSU.

Other report highlights:

• Tennessee home prices also increased over the quarter by 5.1%. 

• Tennessee’s single-family and total home permits saw positive yearly and quarterly growth. Single-family permits increased over the year by 5% and 3.5% over the previous quarter. Yearly total permits have increased by 9.5%, while quarterly growth was 6.3%.

• Closings for the Nashville, Knoxville, and Memphis regions dropped from the previous quarter. The Knoxville area saw the most significant decrease (-8%); followed by the Nashville area (-4.5%), and Memphis (-3.8%). Year-over-year changes were also negative for all three areas: Knoxville (-17%), Memphis (-1%), Nashville (-0.8%). 

• Housing inventory dropped from the previous quarter. Nashville saw the largest decrease (-12.8%), followed by Knoxville (-5.8%) and Memphis (-5.5%).

Arik noted that “it appears that mortgage holders are engaging in foreclosures once again now that the moratorium on foreclosures has been lifted,” as Tennessee experienced a 0.13 percentage point increase in foreclosures from a year ago.

But Arik also noted the positive jobs numbers, as weekly unemployment claims have fallen by 67% from last year with an unemployment rate at only 3.4%.

See the full report and more detailed breakdowns at https://www.mtsu.edu/berc/housing/.

BERC’s report is funded by Tennessee Housing Development Agency, or THDA. 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/.

About THDA

THDA is the state’s housing finance agency and is committed to expanding safe, sound, affordable housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income Tennesseans. This is achieved through a robust home loan program, competitive funding for local nonprofit and municipal agencies, and the administration of nine federally funded programs. THDA publishes research on affordable housing and THDA 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 for more information.

— Jimmy Hart (Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu)