Number of Home Sales Highest Since May of 2008

Residential Closings and Median Sale Price for the Nashville Housing Market from January 2007 to May 2012

Last month’s home sales in the Nashville area were the best since the economic meltdown four years ago. And home prices, while not what they once were, are showing improvement.

More than two thousand houses in the Nashville area sold last month. Realtor Zach Goodyear says he hasn’t seen such an appetite for homes since 2007. In recent years, Goodyear says, sellers hardly ever got multiple offers at the same time, but he’s seen it happen several times in the last few months.

Goodyear figures what he calls the ‘fear factor’ for people looking to move is either gone, or by now people have gotten used to it.

“Buying and selling a house is, in a lot of ways, more of an emotional decision than it is a financial decision. And people have been sitting on their homes for a long time now, waiting for the market to get better. They’re starting to see buyers out there.”

Goodyear says some sellers are cutting their prices. But this spring’s sales uptick has left fewer houses on the market, so he argues buyers are willing to spend more to get what they want.

The median price for a house last month was higher than it’s been in the last three Mays – but still about $10 thousand below May of 2008.