Inman

Nashville sees sixth straight year of record home sales

The Greater Nashville Association of Realtors reports record-setting home sales in 2006, despite a decline in fourth-quarter and December sales from the same time last year.

The 40,056 homes that closed in 2006 represented a 3 percent increase from 2005, helping the greater Nashville area set a new record for home sales for the sixth year in a row, GNAR said.

The 3,109 closings in December represented a 7.5 percent decline from the same month last year, but was still the second-highest number of closings in the last month of the year.

Fourth-quarter closings were also the second best on record, although they were down 2.6 percent from the 9,563 closings seen in the fourth quarter of 2005.

Richard Courtney, president of the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, said changes in the market in 2006 included “a significant increase” in the number of condominiums purchased, and expected the trend to continue, with more condominiums becoming available in downtown Nashville and surrounding cities.

Inventory at the end of December stood at 15,815 listings, down from 17,175 in November but up 24 percent from the same time last year .The average number of days on market was 65 days, up from 58 days in 2005.