Map of Tennessee highlighting Knox County
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The long awaited 2008 residential sales figures are now available from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors. now we’re able to see how the Knoxville area fared in 2008 compared to our previous years.

First chart is the total number of units sold. That’s total single family residences and condos sold in 2008 by Knoxville area Realtors. This includes all areas our members work in which includes Knox County, all the contiguous counties, and some outlying counties in east Tennessee.

Knoxville area Realtors sales figures

Looks like about a 31.3% drop in units from 2007 vs. 2008; back about to 2002 levels. Still 11,850 is a bunch of houses and condos sold and closed.

Next let’s see how the average and median sale prices for 3 bedroom homes has been doing.

Knoxville area averge & median sales prices

Knoxville area 3 bedroom averge & median sales prices

The drop in average and median sales prices does not necessarily mean your house has dropped in value, these are just averages. The median price means 50% of sales were above that price and 50% were below it. The best conclusion you can draw from this is that there were more sales of lower priced homes than higher.

The average sales price dropped 9.55% from 2007 to 2008; back to just a shade below 2006 levels.

Here’s 9 years worth of “Days On Market” or time it took to sell from list date to closed date.

Average days to sell a house in the greater Knoxville area

Average days to sell a house in the greater Knoxville area

So we see days from list date to closed date have increased about 9.8% from 2007 versus 2008; that’s just a litte higher than the past 8 year’s averages.

And here’s the total number of listings Realtor took each year. These figures include single family home and condos.

Knoxville area yearly totals for listings taken

Knoxville area yearly totals for listings taken

Currently in the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service there are 12,171 active listings for single family houses and condos.

The following data on new home construction permits for Knox County was provided by The Market Edge, a service that provides specialized information to the residential and construction industry.

Yearly residential building permit totals for Knox County

Yearly residential building permit totals for Knox County

New residential construction took a big drop in 2008 with a 45% drop over 2007 permits issued. I’m not looking for a rebound in 2009.

While there is no way to predict the future, you can look to past data to formulate some projections. If 2009 listings taken equal the 32,232 taken in 2006; that number added to the current 12,171 equals 44,403.

We sold 11,850 homes and condos in 2008 and have the potential to have over 44,000 homes and condos for sale in 2009. Existing inventory needs to be cleared (sold) before any new listings are added but past performance tells me that is not going to happen.

If you intend to sell your Knoxville area home in 2009 it’s more critical than ever to make certain it’s priced very competatively and in tip top condition.

If you intend to buy a home in the Knoxville area in 2009 there is no question it’s a buyer’s market. Combine that with fixed interest rates in the 5% or below range and that makes it a wonderul time to buy.

Sellers can visit my website, www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to get a free estimate of your home’s most likely selling price along with lots of fix up, shine up tips to make it more appealing to potential buyers. Just click the link titled “Selling“.

Buyers can search all the Knoxville area Realtor listings there as well, just click the link titled “Search Homes” on the left; no registration necessary.

Please feel free to leave a comment or question.

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