With the usual warning that not all transactions have yet been reported the preliminary numbers for May 2009 Gatlinburg area real estate sales are now in. You can view my latest update to the table by clicking here.
Although May’s total represents the best performance so far this year it is only better than previous months by a rather slim margin so we aren’t breaking out the champagne just yet. Still, “better” is better than worse and I believe that you should NEVER challenge “worse”. Challenging worse is when someone says something like “Well, it can’t get any worse than this” which usually leads to much pain as “worse” frequently wins.
The brightest spot in my analysis of our Smoky Mountain real estate is that buyers are surfacing and new construction has pretty much halted. Both of these had to occur before volume could improve or home prices go up. With the historically low mortgage rates currently available to buyers with good credit and a reasonable down payment and prices very attractive compared to the levels seen a few years ago it is no wonder that our market is showing small signs of improvement.
We are still facing the downward pressure of real estate foreclosures and this will likely continue for the near future. Still, great values are available and now is certainly the best opportunity to purchase Gatlinburg area real estate that I have seen in my nearly 15 years in this market. For more information about any property here, please contact us!