Royce Dugan's Blog: Nashville home sales climb first time in three years

Nashville-area homes sales were up in October compared to last year — the first time since October 2006 that year-to-year home sales increased for a given month.

According to data released Monday by the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, 2,145 home closings were reported last month, up 22.7 percent from last October.

“This is undeniable evidence that the $8,000 tax credit has been meaningful in stimulating home sales,” Mike Nichols, president of the Realtors association, said in a news release. “There is no question that many of these sales were initiated due to the tax credit, and it is certainly our hope that, with the expansion and extension of this tax credit through next spring, we will continue to see positive sales in the area.”

“And while one month does not make a trend, having a significant number of sales pending for the next month is also encouraging,” he said.

There were 2,106 sales pending at October’s end, compared to 1,504 sales pending at this time last year.

Year-to-date closings still are down for 2009, however. According to the association’s figures, there have been 17,598 closings through October, an 18.4 percent decrease from the 21,581 closings reported through October 2008.

And while volume was up in October, values were down. The median price for a single-family home was $160,000, compared to $170,000 in October 2008. The median price for a condo was $144,000, compared to $152,500 last year.

“Inventory is down overall and actually down significantly in the single-family homes category,” Nichols said. There are 23,398 such homes on the market today, compared to 24,043 at this time last year.

“Based on October’s numbers, we are at about an eight-month supply in that category, which is much more in balance than what has been the case for some time,” Nichols said.

The condominium inventory also decreased, from 2,541 in 2008 to 2,417 currently.