Our Gatlinburg area real estate business was truly wild in every way during 2010. I personally had a record 139 sales during 2010 but sadly, the vast majority of these sales were foreclosures. Our Smoky Mountain real estate market was driven by foreclosures and that caused prices to fall. In 2010, the average residential property in our Gatlinburg area real estate market was $167,965 which was considerably below the average sale price in 2009 was $176,681. Furthermore, although there were more sales in 2010 (1592 in 2010 versus 1469 in 2009), days on market went up from an average of 159 days in 2009 to 172 days in 2010. Clearly, the Smoky Mountain real estate market continues to be very challenging for sellers while buyers have an exceptional opportunity to find great values.
In December, Gatlinburg area residential real estate sales continued to hold roughly even to last year with our preliminary number standing at 129, just below the final total of 131 sales in 2009. Because the 2010 value is only a preliminary number which will be revised upward over the next 10 days or so, December 2010 sales will almost certainly surpass those of 2009. Here is the chart of Smoky Mountain residential sales I have compiled monthly for 6 years now:
