March Market Statistics

Nationally, increasing housing prices and housing affordability remained a concern in many markets, but locally sales prices and inventory levels remained steady. One big takeaway from March is the sharp increase in people listing their property for sale.

New Listings in the Chattanooga region increased 8.2 percent to 1,282. Pending Sales were up 8 percent to 1,084. Inventory levels shrank 1.1 percent to 2,501 units. Prices were fairly stable. The Median Sales Price increased 0.7 percent to $190,000. Days on Market remained flat at 54 days. Sellers were encouraged as Months Supply of Inventory was down 3.2 percent to 3 months.

The Federal Reserve recently announced that no further interest rate hikes are planned for 2019. Given the fact that the federal funds rate has increased nine times over the past three years, this was welcome news for U.S. consumers, which carry an approximate average of $6,000 in revolving credit card debt per household. Fed actions also tend to affect mortgage rates, so the pause in rate hikes was also welcome news to the residential real estate industry.

All of these factors are looking to make a hot spring buying and selling season. To prepare for this flurry of activity, the Greater Chattanooga Realtors will be hosting our annual Open House Weekend on April 27-28. This event will feature more than 100 Realtor-hosted Open Houses throughout southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia. Potential buyers who visit open houses this weekend can register for a chance to win one of five $150 gift cards. Get details and preview scheduled open houses at www.gcar.net.