NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Nashville has finally turned into a buyer’s market, according to a new report from a home loan financing program., Knock. But, not everyone agrees.

Knock released its Buyer/Seller Index report this week calling Nashville one of the 16 markets that “now significantly favors buyers.”

However, the President of Greater Nashville Realtors, Steve Jolly, said the area is actually more balanced when it comes to buyers and sellers.

“If you look at what the experts, the real estate experts, in the country say a buyer’s market is, they say, in general, it’s when you have six months more inventory,” said Jolly.

He added Nashville is far from six months of inventory. He said it’s more like 60 days or less.

The report said signs of Nashville becoming a buyers market include, more homes are available for sale and active listings have grown considerably faster than other areas.

“It’s probably just because of the huge change in our market. So, they’re comparing this year to last year. I mean, the last year was the greatest real estate market that Nashville is ever going to see and has ever seen. So, comparing anything is really not a fair comparison. And when you do, sure, it’s a lot slower than it was last year,” said Jolly.

Nashville continues to draw new people to the market as inventory becomes more balanced. But, Jolly said some other factors have changed the dynamics.

“Buyers lost probably close to 43 to 44% of their buying power this year, because of the raising (interest) rates. And then, when you add, since the pandemic, prices have increased like 57%. So, you add those things together. And the average home now is so much more expensive than it was back then to the average buyer.”

According to the index, Nashville’s housing inventory in September was 6,707 – an almost 30% increase year over year.

The report also predicts by September of 2023, “a majority of U.S. markets will skew toward buyers.”

The softening market does mean real estate agents will have their work cut out for them.

“I think it’s going to be a bump in the road. But that’s all it is.” Jolly continued, “It’s not going to be a crash like we had last time.”

Jolly said now that Nashville has a more traditional market, his advice for sellers is simple.

“Make sure you’re doing everything that you can to make your home look as spectacular as possible. So, don’t think it’s like it was last year, when when you didn’t have to market your home as well,” he said.

For buyers, he had this advice.

“They can have a little bit more patience; they can also not have to feel like they’re having to give everything away to get the home they want; they can have an inspection; they can have an appraisal; they have a little bit more time to think, but don’t sit on it,” Jolly said.

The index uses information on more than 150 million properties in the country’s top 100 markets of total home sales from January 2017 to September 2022.

To see the full report and the measures used to create the market index, click on this link.