By the numbers
› 11.5: Percent gain in January home sales in Chattanooga compared with a year ago › 69: Number of days in Chattanooga it takes to sell the typical home, down from 108 days a year ago › $114,612: Median sales price of homes sold in Chattanooga last month, up from $136,700 a year ago › $213,800: Medial sales price of homes sold nationwide in January, up from $196,300 a year ago
After selling a record number of homes last year, Chattanooga Realtors started 2016 with even better sales of residential houses and condominiums.
The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors said Tuesday that January home sales were up 11.5 percent from a year ago to 581 units, or 60 more homes and condos than were sold in January 2015.
The local sales gain easily bested the nationwide rise last month of 0.4 percent reported by the National Association of Realtors.
"We ended December so strong that I think that high continued into January," said Nathan Walldorf, president of the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors. "The local economy still seems to be growing and getting stronger, which should help buffer somewhat against higher interest rates when they come this year."
The sale gain in the number of homes sold came even while the number of new local real estate listings fell by 2.6 percent and the median price of homes sold in January was up 5.8 percent from a year ago. Last month, the typical home sold in Chattanooga for $144,612, compared with the median price of $136,700 in January 2015.
Nationwide, the median home sold in January for $213,800, up 8.2 percent from a year ago.
In Chattanooga, the typical home sold last month by Realtors in 69 days, or 39 days quicker than a year ago.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said home sales last month were at their strongest pace since July 2015.
"The housing market has shown promising resilience in recent months, but home prices are still rising too fast because of ongoing supply constraints," Yun said in a report Tuesday. "Despite the global economic slowdown, the housing sector continues to recover and will likely help the U.S. economy avoid a recession."
Homebuyers continue to benefit by historically low mortgage rates. According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage stayed below 4 percent for the sixth consecutive month and declined in January to 3.87 - the lowest since last October.
One caution for the Chattanooga housing market, however, was the 1.1 percent drop in January in the number of pending sales, which could reduce February or March sales slightly from the record highs of a year ago.
"The real takeaway from the numbers is that despite demand being high, the future is looking somewhat muted for homebuyers," said Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist at the real estate firm Trulia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.