By Travis Close, ABR, GREEN, GRI, e-PRO
President, Greater Chattanooga Association of REALTORS®
Transitory periods in the market are common this time of year. After a persistent period of steady year-over-year climbs in sales metrics, recent low national numbers have not fulfilled what many predicted. But on a positive note, jobless claims have also been at low levels nationally, coming in as the lowest number since 1973.
As always, every market and situation is unique, so some numbers seen in national trends may not always line up with local markets. So let’s take a closer look.
In October, New Listings in the Chattanooga region increased 8.6 percent to 1,094. While this figure is slightly lower than September’s 1,123, October’s increase, puts us at a year-to-date increase of 8.9 percent.
Pending Sales were up 4.3 percent to 709, which puts Greater Chattanooga at a strong 16.4 percent year-to-date increase. Also, we currently are ahead slightly of where we began 2015, with only 702 Pending Sales in January.
Following suit with Pending Sales, Closed Sales were up 11.9 percent to 7,423. For the 12-Month Average of Pending Sales, Greater Chattanooga is up 10.3 percent to 718.
Prices continued to gain traction in October. The Median Sales Price increased 5.6 percent to $150,000. The Average Sales Price increased 5.7 percent to $175,056. Not accounting for seller concessions, on average sellers received 93.7 percent of the original asking price, which is up 1.6 percent for the month.
Days on Market was down 28.7 percent to 72 days. Sellers were encouraged as Months Supply of Inventory was down 37.1 percent to 5.6 months. Overall, inventory levels shrank 28.5 percent to 4,175 units.
Interest rates are an area to pay attention to as rate hikes are widely expected before the year ends. The Federal Reserve Bank has skipped two opportunities to raise rates this fall, but the final meeting in December will likely include a minor rate hike. Although we are headed into a slower time of year for housing activity, there are still many nuggets of optimism to mine from monthly figures.