- The Tri-Cities $1M+ market has tilted toward buyers — longer days on market, deeper price cuts.
- May's top sale: a 6-bed, 7.9-acre Kingsport estate that closed at $1,953,000.
- Kingsport-Bristol flips cooled in volume but profits actually edged higher.
- What a VA Tidewater notice means (and doesn't mean) before you write an offer on a rural or acreage listing.
- Fun Fest week kicks off in Kingsport, plus what's fresh on the market.
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Tri-Cities Market Pulse
The story at the top of the market this month is patience — and it's shifted in the buyer's favor. Eight homes priced at $1 million or more closed last month, down from 11 a year ago. Buyers at this price point have more inventory to choose from and less competition than they did last year: 119 active listings and six pending sales in that range right now.
Prices haven't dropped — the median sale in this tier was $1,406,250, actually a touch above the $1,390,000 median a year earlier. What's changed is how long it takes to get there and how much ground sellers give up along the way. The typical luxury home spent 130 days on market last month, versus 43 days a year ago. Six of the eight $1M+ sales involved a price cut this year, versus two of 11 last year — and the average cut was 9.8% of the original list price, up from 3.2%. Johnson City led the tier with three of the eight sales; the rest were spread one each across Abingdon, Gray, Greeneville, Jonesborough, and Kingsport.
One quiet data point for anyone fielding investor buyers: Kingsport-Bristol home flips slowed in volume in the first quarter — 79 flips, down from 117 the quarter before — but the deals that closed still produced strong returns. Typical gross profit was $103,000, up from $101,000 the prior quarter and well above the national figure of $66,000. Cash stayed dominant on the buy side, at 55.7% of local flip purchases. Nationally, flipping profits are recovering for the first time in nearly two years, and the Tri-Cities is outperforming that trend on a per-deal basis even with fewer deals getting done.
On rates: mortgage rates have been holding in a fairly calm, narrow range this summer — nothing dramatic in either direction, which has been good for buyers trying to plan a timeline instead of chasing a moving target.
Source: Don Fenley, CoreData (donfenley.com), reporting NETAR data and ATTOM Data Solutions' Q1 2026 U.S. Home Flipping Report.
Top Sale Spotlight
May's highest sale in the region was a Kingsport estate on Rock Springs Road — 6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 5,761 finished square feet, sitting on 7.9 acres, built in 2022. It closed at $1,953,000. For comparison, the top sale in this same window a year ago was a Johnson City home at $2,100,000 — a reminder that the very top of the market has cooled slightly even as the broader $1M+ tier holds its median. (Full report at donfenley.com →)
Mortgage Strategy of the Month: VA Tidewater & Reconsideration of Value
Here's the part that matters for agents specifically: Tidewater gets triggered when an appraiser can't find enough recent comparable sales nearby. In tighter markets like central Johnson City or Kingsport, that's rarely an issue. But a lot of Tri-Cities VA buyers are looking outside the city core — unincorporated Washington or Carter County, larger-acreage parcels, newer construction with thin resale history nearby — and those are exactly the listings where Tidewater shows up more often.
If you're writing an offer with a VA buyer on a rural or acreage property, loop in the lender before the offer goes in, not after the appraiser calls. Knowing the comp risk ahead of time — and knowing the roughly 48-hour Tidewater window and the formal Reconsideration of Value process that follows if Tidewater doesn't resolve it — is what keeps a light appraisal from turning into a lost deal. Full breakdown, including what happens if the value still won't move: VA Appraisal Came in Low? The Tidewater Initiative and Reconsideration of Value, Explained →
Quick FAQ
Fresh on the Market
This section highlights a couple of notable active listings in the region each week. Have one you'd like featured? Send it my way.
Tri-Cities Weekend Events
🎉 Fun Fest kicks off in Kingsport — the nine-day festival's block parties run July 10–12, with more than 100 events across 30+ locations, food trucks, fireworks, and the Sunset Concert Series bringing in acts like Brothers Osborne, LeAnn Rimes, Daughtry, Switchfoot, Jeremy Camp, and Katy Nichole over the course of the festival. Fun Fest's hot air balloon launches are one of the best photo-ops of the week — if you've never caught one at sunrise, worth setting an alarm for. Good week to plan showings around downtown Kingsport traffic.
Got Buyers Who Need Financing?
Hey — if you've got buyers who need financing, send them my way. A VA buyer eyeing acreage, a first-timer, someone move-up shopping in that $1M+ tier — whoever it is, I'll treat them like family and keep you in the loop the whole way.