Condo median price surpasses single family home median price

Condo median price sets record, comes in higher than single family price
Nashville Business Journal - July 9, 2008
For the first time in the city's history, the median price of condominiums surpassed the median price of single family homes in Nashville.
Realtors say that's because many downtown condos, which cost more and are more upscale than others in Nashville, closed in June.
The median prices for a home in June was $183,615 and the median price of a condo was $185,500, according to the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors.
That represents at 6 percent drop in home prices from $196,000 last June, but a 19 percent increase in condo prices from $155,800.
Encore and Adelicia condos closed in June, says Richard Courtney, past president of GNAR. He says he sold several Adelicia condos a few weeks ago, and knows of seven condos bought by people who want to live in them. Four of those buyers paid cash.
"People are actually buying these to live in," he says.
He expects the median price of condos to continue to report higher than homes in the next several months, as Icon, Terrazo and the Rhythm all close their units.
"We have more and more condos over $186,000 (the median single family price)," Courtney says.
The drop in single family prices could be due to economic factors of people deciding to buy a smaller home or lower-priced home than they would have otherwide, says Mark Deutschmann, president of Village Real Estate.
Downtown condos have helped raise prices for condos in suburbia as well because the same price can get your larger square footage, Courtney says.
Overall, home sales were down 27.8 percent in June to 2,591 homes sold compared to 3,588 last year. That percentage drop is in line with past months this year.
Year-to-date closings are down 28 percent with 12,997 homes selling compared to 18,070 in the first half of 2007.
Inventory at the end of June was up to 24,935 properties from 21,236 last year with farms, lands and lots have the largest increase in properties on the market.
"Clearly, the inventory in the region has increased significantly in recent years," said GNAR President Mandy Wachtler. "Buyers in the area have plenty from which to choose. In order to be attractive to buyers, homes need to be priced, prepared and presented well."
Home sales for the first half of 2008 dropped the most in Robertson County with a 37 percent decline. Maury County had a 32 percent decline in home sales as did Rutherford County. Williamson County saw a 31 percent drop in sales and Dickson County had a 30 percent drop.
Richard Exton, principle appraiser at Manier & Exton, says he sees weakness in outlying market like Murfreesboro and Smyrna, where a lot of construction has happened, and a lot of inventory remains.
The median price of a single family home increased 4 percent in Sumner County but dropped 2.6 percent in Williamson County. Wilson County reported a 3 percent rise in median home prices while Davidson had a 1.5 percent increase.