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BY NIC MILLER
STAR STAFF
nic.miller@elizabethton.com

An influx of new residents is boosting the housing market in Carter County.

Tammie McCain, principal broker at Mountain Aire, said the trend is evident across the state of Tennessee. “The main reason that we are receiving so many new residents has to do with our governor and the tax rates within the state,” she said.

“What you are seeing right now is a large number of people moving into the state from places like California, Virginia, and Florida because our state is known as a great place to retire.”

The increased demand brings both good news and challenges to local housing markets. “The selling market is performing very well, however, the only problem is that at the moment there are not enough houses on the market,” McCain said.

“The pricing of the houses that are on the market is going up because most of the people coming in to purchase real estate are using cash, which means that there is no appraisal needed. This means that if a house is worth $100,000 and a person offers $120,000 in cash for that house, then all of the houses comparable to that one are going up in price as well.”

How long this trend will last is unknown. “At this point, it is really unknown what can happen in the next 12 months in relation to the housing market,” she said. “It all depends on how many houses come up on the market in that time because if more houses come up, then competition will increase and prices will start to decline.”