Happy New Year!! I hope you had a restful and joyous holiday season. I spent a lot of time at home and with the people I love most. It was one of the better holiday times I’ve had in a while.
A few market statistics to get your 2025 going!
Looking at Rutherford County only and a 5 year lookback. Also, focusing on single family homes (condos follow pretty closely)
December had 432 closings, the lowest number for a month was in January 2023 with 274. December was up from 413 in November. The highest in the past 5 years was July of 2020 with 808.
December had the third fewest new listings of the past 5 years with only 469. December of 2022 had the fewest at 451.
Average sales price hit an all time high at over $523k. Average list price was off the all time high by quite a bit. Average sales price per square foot hit an all time high as well at $235, edging out previous record of $232.
Showing activity was extremely low at only 1897 showings for December. Compare that to June of 2024 with 3189 showings.
Interesting snapshot. Activity is very low. Prices are up. Rates are up. I have personally seen more activity on my listings in the last week than I did all of December. So I think we will see something different in January.
Here’s what I know, overall pricing is being set by new construction, which continues to dominate the market–405 new construction active listings out of 892 total listings (single family, detached, site built). As these continue to make up almost half of all listings, pricing will stay high–lets say this again–pricing will stay high–read–if you are waiting on prices to drop, you are waiting for something that won’t happen. This also means that in order for existing homes to compete, deals are being made.
It is a fantastic time to get incentives and good deals on existing homes. Yes, your rate may be high. But if you can afford it now, plan to refi later. I don’t know when that will be possible so make sure you can do the payments for the long haul, but it doesn’t change the deals to be had in the market on existing homes. Even new homes are giving incentives.
All of this said, I HIGHLY recommend hiring a competent, savvy buyer’s agent–even–maybe even especially–on new construction. You can get some incredible stuff done if the agent knows to ask. And knows the right levers to pull. Compensation of agents was a huge topic of 2024. A good agent can articulate what that new landscape looks like and can show their value.
As always, if you have any questions or want to visit about your specific situation (no one is cookie cutter in this business), please reach out. You are never, ever, bothering me. I want to help and have the ability to do so!! Let’s make 2025 the year you make that move you have been putting off.
