presidents desk

From the President’s Desk (January)

The Housing Market

presidents desk

With the recent news of Morristown having the largest increase in home prices in the state for the previous year, it has caused me to take a deeper dive into the why and how of the market.

One can see this as good if you are a seller currently or bad if you are a buyer in the market, which unfortunately, it seems like 80% of our area is. The homes in the Morristown MSA appreciated 8.1% in the previous year which was almost double the national average. For current homeowners, it likely means your equity just increased and could possibly free up new capital for needed home repairs. For buyers, it means more demand and competition in the market. I
feel our market has been underpriced for years, so I don’t see this increase as a negative on the buying side as it seems to have not slowed over list price purchases.

We are also seeing a significant statewide decrease in past due mortgages and foreclosures which seems to signal a strong job and wage market. As you know, one of our main focuses at the Chamber this past year and going forward has been the Make Morristown Home Committee which focuses on developer assistance, developer recruitment and quality of life amenities that support these housing efforts. For more detailed data, see the link to the MTSU
study.

https://www.mtsu.edu/berc/docs/housing19q3.pdf