While I do know a little about economic theory and the market from several years in the financial services industry, I am certainly no economist. I can however state that our Great Smoky Mountains real estate market has recently seen very significant improvement in the demand for our pricier residential properties. As usual, I do have a table to illustrate this new trend:
Consider that in 2014, the total number of residential sales in this part of East Tennessee was almost exactly the same as the tally for 2013, but the percentage of homes sold in the upper brackets was across the board higher, and significantly so. Although we aren’t in to 2015 very far, the past 365 days shows an even further improvement over calendar 2014.
Our Sevier County area will always have many more low priced home sales than it will transactions in the upper brackets, but the mix is certainly improving. Note that the number of really expensive (for our market) homes sold has very nearly doubled since 2013, and the other categories have also risen sharply.
What does this mean for Gatlinburg area real estate? It means that the more expensive homes are selling much better than they were just a couple of years ago, and this trend seems to be continuing. If you have a upper bracket home to sell in Sevier County or the adjoining areas, your chances of selling at a good price are the best they have been in a long time!
Jeff, great information. Back in the mid 2000s, it seemed that most properties (vacation rentals) that were on water (creek, river, stream) commanded very high prices as compared with properties without this feature. Is this still a trend for these types of properties ?
Thanks for your comment! Still true today. Any significantly sized body of water is always a positive, as is a mountain or especially a national park view. These properties will likely always sell at a premium.