Local home sales rise

Friday, August 19, 2011

Home sales and prices rose in Chattanooga last month from their year-ago levels, bucking a nationwide slowdown in the housing market.

The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors reported Thursday that local real estate agents sold 524 houses in July, up 17.5 percent from a year ago. The median price of single-family homes sold locally was up by 9.4 percent in the past year to $142,145.

"Clearly, we are going against the trends we're seeing nationally, and our market is setting its own pace," said Jennifer Grayson, president of the Chattanooga Realtors group.

Despite the gains over last year, however, July home sales were still nearly 2 percent below the number of dwellings sold in June. The average length of time it takes to sell a listed home, 118 days, was up 18 days from the year-ago period.