By Travis Close, ABR, GREEN, GRI, e-PRO
President, Greater Chattanooga Association of REALTORS®
All expectations in 2015 are for a healthy and energetic selling season. National stories have been highlighting an increase in new construction sales and pending sales, but national stories are not always readily applied to the local scene. All the same, if ever there was a year to list or purchase a home, wider economic factors seem to indicate that this is the one.
A first blush at the Greater Chattanooga market stats might indicate things aren’t as rosy as the national scene. For example, in March, Inventory levels shrank 25.8 percent to 4,165 units. Months Supply of Inventory was down 34.4 percent to 5.9 months, which is the lowest we’ve seen in more than a year. Days on Market was down 14.1 percent to 101 days.
While shrinking Inventory and fewer Days on Market favor sellers, potential buyers are anxious, especially with predications that mortgage rates will continue to rise as the year progresses. Homes are going quickly, with many sellers facing multiple offer situations. Despite these March numbers, there are several positives in our local market, which align with the national perspective.
As of the date of this posting, the Greater Chattanooga MLS had more than 4,100 active single-family listings, with new listings being added each day. By the end of April, we should see slightly higher inventory than March numbers. Increased inventory is to be expected for this time of year, as especially as we gear up for Greater Chattanooga Open House Weekend (April 25-26).
And March numbers reinforce this positive trend. New Listings in the Chattanooga region were up 9.1 percent to 1,357, which is nearly 300 more New Listings than the 12-month average. This figure is the highest we’ve seen for New Listings in more than a year.
Pending Sales also were up by 19.8 percent to 823. Again this is more than 12-month average by more than 100 Pending Sales and the highest number of Pending Sales we’ve seen in more than a year.
Closed Sales were up 12.2 percent to 718, which has improved 9 of the last 12 months. We definitely are seeing a pattern here, indicating homes are priced correctly for market demand and qualified buyers entering the market.
Another positive for Greater Chattanooga is that prices remain stable. The Median Sales Price was up 13.4 percent to $145,750. The Average Sales Price was up 4.9 percent to $163,221, which is nearly $10,000 more than February’s figures.
On average, more people are employed and making more money than they were at this time last year. The jobs picture, as a whole, looks promising. Employment drives home-buying activity, so it is ever critical to watch labor statistics as a key indicator for the residential real estate market. Coupled with the mostly positive jobs picture, it is widely expected that mortgage rates will remain as they are for at least the first two quarters of the year.
If you’re a seller and want to make sure your home is part of Greater Chattanooga Open House Weekend (April 25-26), contact your REALTOR® to make sure the open house is registered with the Multiple Listing Service so that potential buyers can make plans to stop by.
If you’re a buyer ready to start looking, make sure to engage a REALTOR® and ask them which homes to preview. If last year’s open house weekend is any indication, we anticipate more than 200 scheduled open houses over the weekend. Plus, this year, consumers who visit an open house may enter a drawing to win a $500 Visa gift card.