Median Sales Prices for Closed and Under Contract Houses
Nashville’s closed and under contract home prices hit a 12 month high this May. The median closed home price was $649,500.
I’ve been saying that everyone’s house and yard look their best this time of year. With temperatures rising in early spring more Buyers start looking. Lengthening days give people more hours to see houses in daylight. And, with the cool weather we have had everyone’s yards and gardens still look fresh.
The reverse of our perfect spring weather was our dreary, wet winter. That’s reflected in the closed prices of $570,000 and $560,000 in January and February.
Average Days on Market Before Contracts
Another perspective for viewing the health of the Nashville housing market is through days on the market. Looking at houses that have contracts, you can see how many days on the market homes sat before they went under contract. Starting at 30 days last June, the number of days steadily increased all the way to 47 days last December. Seventeen days doesn’t sound like a lot, but each day feels exceedingly long from the perspective of a homeowner without an offer or contract.
The days on market dropped quickly to a low of 26 days in April. Looking at the first chart where both closed and contract prices were at their lowest in February, you see on the above chart where that folllowed three months of the median home taking 40+ days to get a contract. Lower median prices make sense when you see that Buyers and Sellers were reacting to three months of slower sales. And in the same way, this May’s rising median price makes sense when you see how much more quickly homes werre going under contract in April and May.
Notes
- The under contract price is what the price was when it went under contract.
- The closed price is published after closing.
- The difference in closed versus under contract price may show that Buyers are negotiating lower prices or that competition is driving prices up.
- There is a delay between a contract and closing, often around a month.
- The average price is a more exciting number since it’s almost always a few hundred thousand higher than median. So, to see what the majority of Buyers and Sellers experience, I’m sticking with median prices.
