Price per square foot rose 68% in 5 years in Nashville, report says

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Sixty-eight percent.

That’s how much Middle Tennessee’s home prices have gone up since 2019. It puts Nashville just behind New York and Boston.  News 2 asked the experts how we got here, and who can cash in on this equity. 

In real estate, it all comes down to the price per square foot, and in Middle Tennessee, according to Realtor.com, that number has gone up astronomically – 68.6% in a quick five years. 

“For homeowners who have owned their home for more than five years, this is really good news,” said Kevin Wilson, president of Greater Nashville REALTORS.

Wilson said for Middle Tennessee, most of the price per square foot spike happened in just one year – 2021 – in the middle of the pandemic when prices shot up 35%, but that growth has leveled out. 

“Thirty-five percent in 2021 is not sustainable. It’s even dangerous, and so we are seeing a more balanced market, but we are still seeing increased equity gains even at 7.5% interest rates, which is really encouraging for our market.” 

Only New York and Boston saw larger square foot price spikes at 84.7% and 72.9%, respectively, but with rates hovering around 7%, only certain homeowners can cash in on this equity. 

“Maybe they’re empty-nesting and now they want to downsize, or maybe they want to move more suburban, or perhaps they want to try condo living now because they’ve never done that and the kids are out of the house, so really there’s a lot of winners here, really more so on the property owners’ side prior to 2019.” 

The Federal Reserve has yet to drop rates this year, but Wilson is still expecting one or two rate drops starting in the fall.