Most realtors and analysts don't see the market slowing down anytime soon. But WPLN talked to one who says he can predict the exact month that will happen. DavidDubov Flickr

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Home sales in Nashville have surged in recent years. The median price for a single family home is up by nearly half since 2012.

Most realtors and analysts don’t see the market slowing down anytime soon. But we talked to one who says he can predict the exact month that will happen.

“The Nashville market is probably one of the best housing markets in the United States,” says Edsel Charles, the chairman of Franklin-based MarketGraphics Research Group Inc.

Charles’ forecasting goes far into the future, right now he’s looking out as far as 2028. And his predictions have been successful in the past. He says his firm’s models saw the Recession coming nine years before it happened.

Charles projects Nashville’s home sales will stay strong until 2020. Actually, May of 2020 to be exact. That’s when the economic cycle nationwide will begin to wane, pulling Nashville down with it. Until then, he describes the next few years as going something like this.

“So we’re going to go from today, grow, come down a little bit and then go back up,” he says.

That small dip that’s coming, Charles says, is because there’s been a period of high demand after The Recession, which will soon disappear. But that lull won’t last, thanks to baby boomers and Millennials driving the market.

In the meantime, Charles tossed out this piece of advice for buyers.

“I think if you’re waiting to buy a house, I think you should have bought it last month,” he says.

For sellers, though, Charles expects the housing market to remain strong for a few more years.