Over the past couple of months the city of Nashville in Tennessee has offered a promising view of its future.  The Nashville real estate market has been on the rise during the fourth quarter of 2009, with levels beginning to rise above levels seen in 2008 during the same time period.  Despite the continuing decline in median price, home sales have begun to increase significantly, something many real estate experts claim was caused mostly in part by the federal first-time homebuyers tax credit.   Many realtors are optimistic that the coming months will bring more success as prospective buyers rush to close on properties before the tax credit expires.  Nevertheless, due to the still declining median prices and struggling luxury housing markets and commercial real estate in Nashville, many people aren’t convinced that the Nashville real estate market will make a full recovery until the end of 2010 or most likely 2011.

According to the Tennessean, home sales in Nashville shot up in November by 58.7 percent compared to that of the previous year.  Sales in October even rose by 23 percent.  In November, Nashville realtors reported that approximately 1,973 homes were sold, a significant increase from the 1,243 sold in November of 2008.  Most realtors in the area attribute the significant increases to the federal first-time homebuyers tax credit.  Much activity took place towards the end of November when the tax credit was expected to expire, but since the expiration date has been extended to April, realtors hope that the tax credit will continue to spur an increase in Nashville real estate activity that will lead to a successful recovery sometime next year or in early 2010.

On another note, the Nashville Business Journal has noted that the high-end luxury home real estate in Nashville continues to struggle as sellers are having a difficult time finding buyers willing to pay a lot of money given the current economic situation.  In October, there were only 14 luxury homes sold in the Nashville region.  Despite slow sales, many real estate experts are optimistic that the luxury home market will show signs of improvement over the next few months.

The state of Maryland continues to suffer as a result of the recession that began in the fall of 2008.  Home sale and median sales price levels continue to fluctuate and real estate experts don’t have any solid signs of consistent improvement to be made in the coming months.  Although some surprising luxury home sales and increasing number of construction or renovation projects have taken place over the past months, real estate experts aren’t certain that the real estate in Maryland has hit bottom and is ready to rebound.  Many experts feel that recovery won’t begin until late 2010 or 2011, and looming fears of another wave of foreclosures in the Maryland commercial real estate market many prolong the expected recovery.

According to the Baltimore Business Journal, many Maryland-based banks are increasing their reserves for the expected wave of problem loans, especially those in the commercial real estate market.  Both the residential and commercial real estate markets are struggling in Maryland as job security is becoming a major problem.  Commercial real estate vacancies are high and many companies are struggling to pay increasing rents.  Many experts in Maryland believe that the number of successful businesses in Maryland will determine the success of both the commercial and residential real estate market since jobs will become more stable.  The Baltimore Business Journal has also reported that based on a LoopNet survey, many real estate experts don’t expect the Baltimore real estate market to recover until 2011.  A majority of experts also believe that Baltimore will continue to experience declines over the next year until it bottoms out sometime during mid 2010.

The Baltimore Sun has also reported that despite a weak real estate market in Baltimore, many contractors are experiencing increasing construction and renovation projects.  As many prospective home-buyers are opting to invest only in low-end, affordable housing, many home and apartment owners are opting to make slight renovations to make affordable housing options even more attractive.  Currently, most of the activity in the Baltimore real estate market is in the lower priced homes and apartments, with luxury properties continuing to struggle to find buyers.