Report: Tennessee housing market a ‘mixed landscape’

It’s a mixed scorecard for Tennessee’s housing market in the latest quarterly analysis from MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center.

For single-family housing, home prices (1.3%) and construction permits (24%) were both up compared to 2023. Knoxville, by far, saw the state’s biggest increase in homes available for sale, up 29%.

At the same time, the first part of this year saw more mortgage delinquencies and higher rates of home vacancy in Tennessee.

There’s also been a slowing pipeline for construction of multifamily homes and apartments — matching a trend across the South and the nation.

In a statement, Murat Arik, director of the Business and Economic Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University, called it a “mixed landscape.”

“While employment and home prices showed notable increases, challenges such as declines in specific sectors and mortgage tax collections persisted,” Arik wrote. “Resilience in single-family home construction is encouraging, but rising mortgage delinquencies and homeowner vacancy rates raise concerns. Moving forward, close monitoring of these trends is essential to ensure stability and growth in Tennessee’s housing market.”