Million-dollar home sale sets record price for Germantown area market

Getahn Ward, gward@tennessean.com 10:38 p.m. CDT April 16, 2015

A 3,404-square-foot home at Luxus Germantown set a record price for a home sale in that area.

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Conversations about million-dollar-plus home sales in the Nashville area normally involve higher-end neighborhoods such as in Green Hills, Brentwood and Franklin.

Now add Germantown after the last home at Luxus Germantown at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue North and Monroe Street sold for $1.08 million Monday.

"It's the most expensive home sale in the history of Germantown, the Capital District and the entire 37208 ZIP code," said broker Grant Hammond, who listed the single-family home at 1236 Fifth Ave. N. bought by Mark J. and Shannon K. Earl.

Hammond, however, sees that record being eclipsed by two of the 10 homes that a luxury homebuilder plans to build nearby at the Gramercy Germantown site at Seventh Avenue North and Monroe Street. He attributes that area's appeal to being a walkable, historic neighborhood with character and charm, where the per-square-foot home sale price has risen sharply since Metro first announced plans in 2013 to build a ballpark for the Nashville Sounds at Sulphur Dell nearby.

"With the ballpark now open(ing), we're expecting another significant escalation in prices in the surrounding area," said Hammond, who, besides Germantown, counts the area right around the new ballpark and the adjacent Salemtown, Historic Buena Vista and Hope Gardens neighborhoods in what's called the Capital District. "They're building smaller but more expensive homes that are highly amenitized."

Nashville's a top 5 housing market

The record price for the 3,404-square-foot home in Germantown comes as Auction.com on Wednesday included Nashville in the top five of the nation's hottest single-family housing markets in terms of current and expected demand, price appreciation, and economic and demographic growth. Increased demand - which is expected to continue over the next few years - has spurred a 6.2 percent year-over-year rise in prices, the online real estate marketplace said. It also cited home sales here being up 4 percent from a year ago, expansion of local employment in 12 of the past 14 months and an accelerated growth in the population in each of the past four years.

"Home prices have nowhere to go but up," said David McGowan, president of Regent Homes, citing high costs of developing sites among the expected drivers.

In Germantown and the overall Capital District, home sales tripled and price per square foot of homes rose nearly 50 percent in 2013, Hammond said. Since then, sales have trended upward every year.

Before the latest sale at the Luxus Germantown development by Jim Creason of Trust Development, other properties sold in the past six months for $970,000 and $700,000. Although not every sale has posted a sharp jump, sales of at least two properties support Hammond's theory.

One at 1819-B Fifth Ave. N. bought in November 2013 for $364,900 was just resold for $436,000, which equates to a rise of 1 percent a month. Another at 407 Van Buren St. bought for $249,000 in March 2012 resold in August for $360,000, which equates to a rise of 1.3 percent a month.

Reach Getahn Ward at 615-726-5968 and on Twitter @getahn.