Apartments in Knoxville see highest rent increases in the nation
The monthly “Market Pulse” report for October from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors (KAAR) has been released, and it shows that home sales, mortgage rates, and multi-family unit rent payments are all up.
According to this report and the National Association of Realtors (NAR), multi-family rents in the Knoxville metro area grew faster than anywhere else in the United States in Q3 2022. The NAR report found rents in Knoxville grew at more than twice the national average.
Other key highlights from the October “Market Pulse” include:
- Home sales in the Knoxville area increased 3.3 percent from August to September but were down 9.5 percent from one year ago.
- Total housing inventory continued trending upward – up 52 percent from a year ago but still well below pre-pandemic levels.
- Half of the homes sold in August were under contract in 11 days or less.
- A new study ranked Knoxville No. 31 for the best cities for remote works, according to a new study by Lawnstarter.
- Mortgage rates surpassed 7 percent for the first time since April 2002 in October, according to Freddie Mac‘s primary mortgage market survey.
- With future rate hikes likely on the horizon, Freddie Mac economists’ latest forecast predicts home prices will decline -0.2 percent in 2023. Despite the downgraded outlook, it remains unclear how this national forecast might apply to a high-growth area like East Tennessee.
KAAR also released the results of its Q3 2022 Market Pulse Survey. Key findings include:
- Only 39 percent of respondents in Q3 2022 said they expected home prices would increase over the next year, down from 88 percent in the first quarter of 2022.
- Both buyer and seller traffic declined in the third quarter. Fifty-eight percent of respondents reported seeing less buyer traffic than usual, while 38 percent reported less seller traffic than usual.
- Respondents reported receiving an average of 2.5 offers on homes listed in Q3 2022, down from 3.5 offers in Q2 and 6 offers in Q1.
- Fifty-eight percent of Realtors who responded said they expect home sales to decrease over the next year, compared to 27 percent who expect they will stay about the same and 15 percent who expect they will increase.
More data from the Q3 survey can be found here.
