Chattanooga Real Estate Blog

I know I’ve already wished everyone a happy Halloween but this is neat!

Happy Halloween!

Everyone have a safe and happy Halloween weekend!

LOCAL HOME SALES CONTINUE SLUMP

MEDIAN PRICE AND TIME ON MARKET ALSO DROP

The local real estate market remained sluggish during the past month, according to statistics released Monday, in the number of homes sold. The statistics for median price and average number of days on the market also decreased, according to data released by the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) of the Chattanooga Association of REALTORS®. In September of this year, Southeast Tennessee and the Northwest Georgia area saw the sale of 441 residential units, an 8.1% decrease compared to the previous month’s sales, and a drop of 14.2% from the same month in 2009.

Local REALTORS® Association President, Randy Durham said that the Greater Chattanooga area is holding its own, compared to the dire situation that confronts much of the rest of the U.S. market. “I agree with many of the experts that the rest of 2010 will not see any dramatic improvement here, or elsewhere,” he said. “Our attention is focused on seeing a gradual and incremental improvement that becomes apparent by late Spring of next year.” But he added, “What concerns me a great deal in this environment is the foreclosure picture that is very alarming. Almost a third of our existing home sales are from foreclosures, and it appears that they are continuing to trend upward in that respect. Obviously, that represents an issue that will have to be addressed by lawmakers and regulators very soon. However, I feel confident that we can continue to sell these homes on a free and open market, and the public should not fear that there will be a glut of unsold foreclosures as long as we can continue to find willing buyers”.

For the month of September, the local median home price was $125,000, representing a decrease of 6.2% from August, and 3.8% from the same period one year earlier.

In terms of the number of average days on the local market, September 2010 saw a small decrease of four days over figures from the previous month, and 22 days from August 2009.

©2010 Chattanooga Association of REALTORS® Used by permission.

If you are planning of boating to north Knoxville for the Tennessee-Alabama game don’t forget the locks at Watts Bar are closed and will not be reopening until November 3rd.  You’ll need to get out of the water and trailer your boat across so have a car and trailer available.

Interest rates compliments of:

Mortgage South
Melanie Huddleston
1007 Ashland Terrace
Suite 104B
Chattanooga, TN 37415
423-648-7630

Conventional Fixed Rate

30 yr  =  4.%

15 yr  =  3.875%

FHA and VA

30 yr  =  4.%

30 yr = 4.25%

Rates subject to change

For the week ending October 9, New Listings in the Chattanooga area decreased by 15.4 percent compared to the same week last year, with 230 homes added to the market.

Pending Sales had a huge jump over last year, up 139.7 percent. Since there were 175 actual units sold this percentage change this looks quite dramatic, but 102 more sales than last year is nothing to sneeze at.

Buyers have also had a fair amount of success at the closing table, as seen in the decreases in the Percent of Original and Last List Price Received at sale metrics. They were down 3.2 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. Prices held their ground as the Median Sales Price was dead-even with last September at $129,900.

With the increase in buyer activity and decrease in seller activity, the number of Active Listings for Sale fell 7.6 percent to 6,093 homes. This has also helped the Days on Market and Months Supply of Inventory metrics. Market times clocked in at 112 days, a decrease of 13.2 percent; while Months Supply decreased 12.6 percent from last year to arrive at 12.9 months.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will close Watts Bar Lock for three weeks beginning at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13. There is no auxiliary lock available at Watts Bar, so this will affect river traffic between Chattanooga and Knoxville—including fans planning to travel by boat from Chattanooga and points south to the Tennessee-Alabama football game in Knoxville on Saturday, Oct. 23.

The closure is for inspection and major repairs to the underwater components of the lock. The lock is scheduled to reopen at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 3.

For the week ending September 25, New Listings in the Chattanooga region were down 4.7 percent from the same week last year. In total, 222 new properties came online. This represents the smallest year-over year decline in seller activity in the past five weeks.

Pending Sales activity is curiously strong compared to other markets in the country. The most recent reporting week saw 123 signed purchase agreements, which is the 4th consecutive week of year-over-year increase. Many markets are experiencing strong declines in buyer demand, so Chattanooga is a rare exception.

The number of Active Listings in the MLS registered 4.9 percent under last year’s levels, currently sitting at 6,507 homes for sale.