Home sales in the Nashville area shot up again in the month of July, approaching the level of activity seen in 2006 during the last housing boom. But condos remain a weak spot. After months of ups and downs, the median price of a condo hit its lowest point this year — $161,000, down $10,000 from the same month last year.
Colton Wherry just sold a newish condo in a downtown high-rise. To his surprise, he had some trouble unloading his unit in the Rhythm building on Demonbreun Street. Ultimately, he sold it for a loss even though he’d intended the purchase to be a short-term investment. He started out asking more than $400,000 and settled for $330,000.
While Rhythm is relatively new, even newer condos are being completed in the vicinity.
"We are competing with a bunch of new stuff that is coming on the market," Wherry says. "And in addition to that I know Millenials, a lot of them aren't interested in buying anything right now."
Wherry says he now understands one reason so many people are choosing to rent instead of taking the risk to buy downtown.
“I could have rented a decent place — 800 or 1,000 square feet — for about the same price as what I’ve paid for two years owning a unit," Wherry says.
For Wherry, he’s getting out of condos all together. He just purchased a house out of foreclosure that he hopes to flip for a profit. At the moment, that looks like a better bet. The median price of single-family homes have been setting records this year, peaking at $240,000 in June.
Copyright 2015 WPLN News
