Chattanooga Real Estate Blog

It’s that time again.  The total number and volume of residential sales in Hamilton County fell a little last month.  The number of closings decreased by 6% from 307 in March to 287 in April.  Total volume was off by 11% from $57,285,451 in March to $51,172,034 in April.  North Hamilton County and North Chattanooga areas had the most closings with 42 and 33 which accounted for a full 26% of the total closings.

Chattanooga MLS April 2011 Data

The Chattanooga region continued to enjoy increases in homes sales from year-ago levels while listing activity continued to decline – a combination that has kept inventory declining for 10 straight weeks. The outcome is a robust market with promising growth prospects for 2011.

For the week ending December 11, the 156 signed purchase agreements made for a 73.3 percent increase over last year. This is the fifth week out of the last six that have shown an increase.

On the seller side, New Listings continued to decline from last year. The 166 new homes for the most recent week marked a 7.3 percent decline from last year’s level. This was the 18th of the last 20 weeks of year-over-year declines in seller activity.

It should be noted that homes are taking slightly longer to sell. The November 2010 Average Days on Market of 131 is a 13.3 percent increase over November 2009.

Buyer activity this year versus last year continues to look good, up 62.9 percent year-over-year with 158 contracts written. Keep in mind that the number of actual units sold was relatively small so the percentage change looks dramatic. Also, as properties moved in and out of the “Contingent” field, this number adjusts throughout the week and especially when looking back a week.

New Listings dropped to 187 homes added to the market for the week ending October 23 and is down 22.4 percent compared to last year. The mix of buyer activity and new listings has brought the number of Active Listings for Sale down 10.5 percent from last year to 5,930 homes. Months’ Supply of Inventory was down by 12.2 percent from last year at 12.9 months.

It remains a strong buyer’s market and housing affordability for the region is at a historical high.

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.

For the week ending August 28, New Listings in the Chattanooga region were down 5.1 percent since the same week last year as 259 properties came onto the market.

Buyer activity remained above 2009 levels. There were 153 purchase agreements signed last week, representing a 10.9 percent increase over last year.

This combination of market activity helped to keep inventory levels lower than last year for the ninth consecutive week. The number of Active Listings for Sale was down 2.4 percent to 6,610 properties.

Based on July figures, sellers received an average of 90.6 percent of their original list price after about 114 days on the market. Median Sales Price stands at $130,000, and the Months Supply of Inventory metric remains fairly elevated at 12.8 months.

For the week ending August 21, New Listings in the Chattanooga region were down 3.1 percent since the same week last year as 252 properties came onto the market.

Buyer activity remained above 2009 levels, as it has for 29 out of the 33 full weeks this year. There were 146 purchase agreements signed last week, representing a whopping 36.4 percent increase over 2009.

This helped to keep inventory levels lower than last year for the eighth consecutive week. The number of Active Listings for Sale was down 3.6 percent to 6,559 properties. This marks the largest inventory decline in over a year (56 weeks to be exact).

Based on July figures, sellers received an average of 90.6 percent of their original list price after about 114 days on the market. Median Sales Price stands at $130,000, and the Months Supply of Inventory metric remains fairly elevated at 12.8 months.

For the week ending August 14, New Listings in the Chattanooga region were down 16.7 percent in year-over-year comparisons as 250 properties new came on the market.

Buyer activity remained above 2009 levels with 128 contracts written last week, representing a 7.6 percent increase.

This helped to keep inventory levels lower than last year for the seventh consecutive week. The number of Active Listings for Sale was down 3.5 percent to 6,553 properties.

Based on July figures, those sellers who are still waiting for an offer could expect to receive 90.8 percent of their list price and a market time of 114 days, though this number has been coming down in recent months. Median Sales Price remained at $132,000 taking into consideration overall market activity.

In February of this year, Southeast Tennessee and the Northwest Georgia area saw the sale of 406 residential units, a gratifying 35.8% increase compared to the previous month’s sales, and a 19.1% increase in sales over the same period last year.

The current projections for residential mortgage interest rates have shown little change within the past few home sales reporting periods.

For the month of February, the local median home price was $121,750. That represents a decrease of 3.0% from the same period one year earlier and a slight gain of 1.9% from the median price reported the previous month. The adjusted median price remains one of the more attractive for U.S. regions of this size.

In terms of the number of average days on the local market, February 2010 saw a small increase over figures from the same month in 2009, but down somewhat from the previous month of January of 2010. Those swings do not seem to portend anything more extraordinary than the variety of factors that comprise the overall operational vagaries of a recovering market system.

A review of the historical sales activities during the month of February over the past ten years shows a remarkable consistency, with the often stated sole exception of the “boom” years of the past mid-decade.

4th Quarter home sales show a gain over 2008 but lag behind 3rd quarter 2009.

In the fourth three month period of the year just ended, the Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia area saw the sale of 1,527 residential units, a 19.8% increase over the same quarter’s sales in 2008, but a drop of 6.5% over the July through September sales of 2009.

Median price figures for the period witnessed a decrease to $128,500 – a drop of 4.8% from the 4th Quarter of 2008 and a statistically negligible decline of 1.2% from the previous quarter. While a positive sign, in terms of affordability, the price drop is often interpreted by some authorities as a sign of a continuing sluggish economic outlook. However, the index indicating the number of days on the market has remained remarkably consistent – from 120 a year ago to 120 in the 4th Quarter of 2009 – and only 5 days less than the 3rd Quarter.