Another Very Strong Month for Gatlinburg Real Estate!!

March 2012 was indeed another VERY strong month for for Gatlinburg area residential real estate sales and for the third month in a row one has to go all the way back to 2007 to find a superior result for this month. Obviously, a strong positive trend appears to be at work here with every month in 2012 being sharply ahead of last year. Although the past doesn't ever guarantee future results, it is generally the best predictor we have of the future so it is certainly worth reviewing. In March 2012, the quick value for residential sales is 157, a solid 17% increase when compared to the same month in 2011. As I always remind readers, this instant result will certainly be revised upward as more firms enter their end of the month closings into our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors MLS database. I expect that the final tally may be as high as 170 which would be the highest value for ANY month since the good old days of 2007 when we actually AVERAGED more than 188 homes being sold monthly. The fact that our community's recent high record doesn't match the average performance during the year 2007 or even come close to the heady performances of 2006 and 2005 gives one an idea of the severity of the drop off we have now hopefully come through. Here's the monthly residential sold table for your review:

The next market statistic that should start to show improvement is the average sales price of homes sold. Generally, volume must improve before prices can so we now turn our attention to the sales price averages. Intuitively, it does appear that prices are starting to turn, especially on the lower end of the market. It is becoming very difficult to find an attractive 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in our Sevier County, TN market offered for sale for under $100,000 and that was not the case a couple of years ago. I hope to publish more concrete data on average home price sales soon but haven't had a lot of time lately. With the very capable assistance of my office staff, I personally closed 19 sales during March. Other than a few hours of sleep at night and a little bit of time serving in my church youth department, that doesn't leave time for much else. We are however more than willing to help others have success in this market - Please contact us and let us know how we might serve you!!