Knox County, Tennessee Housing Market

Median Sale Price

$393,950

+43.3% YoY

Active Inventory

2,256

Days on Market

63 days

Price Drops

23.8%

Single-Family vs. Condo

Source: Redfin (property-type breakdown)

Single-Family Median

$406,750

+0.7% YoY

Condo / Co-op Median

$276,000

-10.9% YoY

SFR vs. Condo YoY Gap

+11.6%

SFR outperforming condos

DOM: SFR vs. Condo

62d / 74d

SFR / Condo

Buyer vs. Seller Market Indicators

Latest month — Redfin

Months of Supply

4.1 mo

Balanced

Inventory ÷ monthly sales. Below 3 = strong seller market; 3-6 balanced; above 6 = buyer market.

Sale-to-List Ratio

98.3%

At asking

Median closing price ÷ original list price. Above 100% = homes routinely closing above asking.

% Sold Above List

20%

Buyer-favorable

Share of closed sales priced above asking. The single cleanest read on bidder competition.

What does your sqft target cost in Knox County, Tennessee?

$217/sqft median (Redfin)

Square footage 2,000 sqft

Bedrooms +$0 adj

Bathrooms +$0 adj

Lot size optional

Estimated price

$433,202

Near median (+10% vs median)

Region median

$393,950

all homes

Price-tier reverse lookup — what sqft does each price band buy?

$600,000

≈ 2,770 sqft

$1,200,000

≈ 5,540 sqft

$2,000,000

≈ 9,234 sqft

$5,000,000

≈ 23,084 sqft

Estimate = (median $/sqft × your sqft) + bed/bath/lot adjustments. Bed and bath adjustments use Appraisal Institute / Fannie Mae standard rules of thumb (~$15K/extra bedroom, ~$20K/extra bathroom vs. a 3bd/2ba baseline; half-bath = half adj). Lot premium is a $1.50/sqft heuristic beyond a 6,000 sqft baseline — accuracy varies sharply by urban infill vs. acreage market. Quality, condition, year built, and HOA are not modeled here. For a deeper county-level hedonic AVM, see AVM Lite.

Rent + invest vs. buy + own — backtested

15-yr rolling history · S&P 500

Property type:

Home price

Monthly rent

Down %

Rate %

Property tax %

Insurance / yr

Maintenance %

HOA / mo

Home appreciation %

Rent inflation %

Horizon (yrs)

Invest in

After-tax mode (MID, SALT, LTCG, Sec 121) Show inflation-adjusted (real) side-by-side VA loan (0% down, no PMI, funding fee)

BUY + OWN

Median ending wealth $346K $211K real

Net gain on $91K upfront: $255K

Range: $346K → $346K

Wealth = home value (appreciated at 3%/yr) − remaining mortgage − 6% selling cost. Gain = wealth − upfront. Leveraged appreciation on full $394K asset comes from the 20% down.

RENT + INVEST

Median ending portfolio $874K $646K real

Net gain on $307K contributed: $568K

Range: $408K → $2.26M

Same upfront cash + each year's (own − rent) surplus invested in S&P 500 at actual annual returns. Median renter contributed $307K total.

Median wealth delta: $528K in favor of RENT + INVEST

What if you'd started in a recent year? (most-recent 15yr window: 2011–2025)

Window	Buy wealth	Buy gain	Rent wealth	Rent gain	Wealth delta
2011–2025	$346K	$255K	$1.28M	$976K	$937K rent
2010–2024	$346K	$255K	$1.31M	$1.00M	$964K rent
2009–2023	$346K	$255K	$1.25M	$948K	$909K rent
2008–2022	$346K	$255K	$878K	$572K	$532K rent
2007–2021	$346K	$255K	$1.14M	$831K	$792K rent
2006–2020	$346K	$255K	$973K	$666K	$627K rent
2005–2019	$346K	$255K	$874K	$568K	$528K rent
2004–2018	$346K	$255K	$721K	$414K	$375K rent

Educational tool, not investment or real-estate advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Backtests use actual annual total returns including dividends from S&P 500 (Damodaran (NYU Stern) annual total return (with dividends), 1957-present.).

Buyer model: 30-yr fixed mortgage, P&I + property tax + insurance + maintenance (1% of value/yr) + HOA. Selling cost = 6%. Investor model: down payment + annual cashflow surplus invested in the chosen index at that calendar year's actual return.

Tax model: pre-tax comparison. Toggle "after-tax mode" to apply MID, SALT, LTCG, and the Sec 121 capital-gains exclusion.

This calculator does not adjust for: PMI (assumed 20%+ down), differential transaction costs by state, lifestyle factors (commute, schools, kids), illiquidity / forced-sale risk, or insurance availability constraints (e.g., FL/CA wildfire). Consult a fiduciary advisor and tax professional before acting on any of this.

Market Pressure Signals

Derived from Redfin trend

Inventory vs. Long-Term Avg

+31.4%

surplus — buyer leverage

DOM vs. 24-Mo Avg

+6.6%

currently 63 days

Long-Term Avg Inventory

1,717

Long-Term Avg DOM

59 days

Mortgage & Price Stress

State HPI + national delinquency

State HPI YoY

+3.1%

positive — appreciating

State HPI vs. Peak

0.0%

at or near peak peak 2025-10-01

National Mortgage Delinquency

1.89%

benchmark — 2026-01-01 county-grain delinquency requires paid data

State-grain HPI YoY + drawdown from peak is the cleanest free price-stress proxy. The national delinquency rate gives the macro mortgage-stress backdrop. True county-level mortgage delinquency lives in paid datasets (MBA NDS, CoreLogic LP).

Value Ratios

Median home price ÷ county median income

Value / Income

5.5×

overvalued

Median Household Income

$71,662

Census ACS B19013

Historically affordable markets sit at 3–4× income; over 5× is stretched, over 6× is severely overvalued. Lower ratios point to bargain opportunities.

Housing Stock & Owners

Census ACS 5-year (B19013, B01003, B25002, B25003, B25034, B25007)

Population

487,401

total residents

Total Housing Units

214,606

all units, occupied + vacant

Vacancy Rate

8.1%

tight

Homeownership Rate

65.0%

of occupied units owner-occupied

Boomer Owners (65+)

20.6%

of homeowner households

Millennial / Gen-X Owners (35-54)

7.8%

of homeowner households

Pre-1949 Housing Stock

11.7%

structures built before 1949

When boomer-owner share is high, expect more inventory hitting the market over the next decade as homes transition. High vacancy + high old-stock often signals deferred-maintenance markets where buyers can negotiate.

Net Migration (IRS Tax Returns)

IRS Statistics of Income — Migration Data

Net Migration

+904

gaining people (2022–2023)

Inbound Returns

9,534

15,791 people moved in

Outbound Returns

8,968

14,887 people moved out

Net Returns

+566

household-filer basis

Top 5 Origins (where movers came from)

Blount, Tennessee — 1,076 returns
Anderson, Tennessee — 772 returns
Sevier, Tennessee — 556 returns
Loudon, Tennessee — 420 returns
Jefferson, Tennessee — 275 returns

Top 5 Destinations (where movers went)

Blount, Tennessee — 1,105 returns
Anderson, Tennessee — 1,038 returns
Loudon, Tennessee — 646 returns
Sevier, Tennessee — 494 returns
Davidson, Tennessee — 361 returns

IRS Statistics of Income tracks county-to-county migration via tax-return change-of-address. Net migration uses the exemption count (a proxy for people, including dependents). True net flow can lag by 1–2 years vs. real-time movements.

Who's Moving In (Census ACS)

Source: Census ACS B07001 (5-year)

Inbound Movers (1 yr)

34,018

7.05% of pop. — moved here from outside the county

From Other States

16,254

3.37% of pop. — interstate inbound

From Abroad

2,197

moved into the county from outside the U.S.

Same House 1 Year Ago

85%

stable residents

Census ACS asks where people lived 1 year ago, so this counts inbound movers but does not show outbound — true net migration would require IRS SOI parsing.

Trends

Up to 5 years of monthly data

Median Sale Price

Trailing 12 months

Active Inventory

Trailing 12 months

Days on Market

Trailing 12 months

Looking for state-level data? See Tennessee statewide stats →

Verify any number on this page: data sources, formulas, and cross-references →