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Weekend edition January 06, 2023 | Shannon Smith

Home sales down, home and rental prices up in Knoxville area

The housing market is slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels, but home prices and rent payments remain high.

Fewer homes were sold, but prices continued to soar in Knoxville, according to the December Market Pulse report from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors (KAAR).

Home sales in the Knoxville area decreased in November, down 4.1 percent from the previous month and 30.1 percent from a year ago. Home sales are down 7.3 percent year to date.

The Knoxville metro area ranked 13th among the top 100 U.S. metros for house price growth in Q3 of 2022. Knoxville was also included in a list of the top 10 housing markets expected to outperform other metro areas in 2023, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Here are more takeaways from the December Market Pulse report:

  • Knoxville’s rental market continues to outperform the U.S. overall. Effective rents were up 12.73 percent year-over-year in November, compared to 6.53 percent nationally.
  • The median home sale price was $312,000 in November — up 5.8 percent from the previous year.
  • Total housing inventory continued trending upward – up 77 percent from a year ago but still more than 62 percent below pre-pandemic levels.
  • Half of the homes sold were under contract in 13 days or less.
  • As of the week ending December 15, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.31 percent. Mortgage rates are expected to remain elevated through the first half of 2023 and potentially beyond.

KAAR released its 2023 Housing Market Forecast, predicting home sales to decline 10-12% and home prices to increase 3-5% in 2023. We break down the details here.


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