Million-dollar home sales surge in Nashville while lower price points sag
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The Nashville area's housing market is split: Seven-figure sales are surging while purchases of less expensive properties are losing ground.
Why it matters: The trends underscore a growing divide between buyers with deeper pockets and those struggling to get a foot in the door.
By the numbers: New data from Greater Nashville Realtors covering a nine-county area in Middle Tennessee shows that sales of homes priced between $1 million and $1.9 million jumped 11% during the third quarter compared with the same period last year.
- Sales of homes priced at $2 million or more increased 6.5%.
- Meanwhile, every price bracket below $1 million saw a decline in sales.
The big picture: The overall market is relatively sluggish. The nine-county Nashville region logged 9,082 closings in the third quarter, down about 2% from the same period in 2025.
Between the lines: An August Redfin analysis found that fewer than one in four Nashville-area homes for sale was affordable to a household earning the local median income.
- Redfin estimates a household needs to earn about $128,000 annually to afford a typical home, roughly $32,000 above the area's median income.
- In a Vanderbilt University poll of Nashville residents this spring, 82% of respondents said they couldn't afford to purchase a home in Davidson County.
Stunning stat: In a recent Tennessean column, Greater Nashville Realtors president Jack Gaughan noted that in 2005, only 94 homes in Davidson County sold for $1 million or more. That represented less than 1% of all home sales.
- By 2025, he said, million-dollar home sales had increased to 1,419, representing 13% of all transactions in Davidson County.
Zoom out: The divide extends well beyond Nashville. As Axios' Emily Peck reported, stock market gains and cash-rich buyers have helped sustain the national luxury market even as high mortgage rates squeeze ordinary house hunters.