Chattanooga home sales edged higher again last month despite the continued drop in the number of properties for sale in the region.
The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors said local Realtors closed on 929 houses in August, up 0.2 percent from a year ago. Sales grew even through the median price of homes sold in Chattanooga rose last month by 7.5 percent from a year ago to $178,450.
"Realtors had to work a lot harder to produce the same sales results this year with a lot fewer homes for sale," said Mark Hite, president of the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors. "With these strong sales results, combined with low inventory, prices also are marching up."
Chattanooga home prices still average nearly 30 percent below the U.S. median home price of $253,500, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Despite the local increase in home sales last month, NAR said nationwide fewer people signed contracts to buy homes in August, marking the fifth decline in the past six months. The 2.6 percent fall continues to reflect the worsening shortage nationwide of homes being listed for sale.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said this summer's terribly low supply levels have drained the housing market's momentum over the past year.
"August was another month of declining contract activity because of the one-two punch of limited listings and home prices rising far above incomes," he said. "Demand continues to overwhelm supply in most of the country, and as a result, many would-be buyers from earlier in the year are still in the market for a home, while others have perhaps decided to temporarily postpone their search."
The Realtors said Hurricanes Harvey and Irma had a particularly negative impact in the South, where pending sales contracts declined 7.8 percent.
A new survey released Wednesday by the real estate firm Zillow found that only 39 percent of millennial buyers this year are able to make the recommended 20 percent down payment - and those that do are more likely to rely on money from family and friends. This trails older buyers who often already own homes and can afford a larger down payment.
The median price paid for a home by millennials, ages 18 to 37, was approximately $200,394. Their median down payment was roughly $21,750 - a down payment of less than 11 percent.
Because the millennials are such a large population, Zillow chief economist Svenja Gudell expects they'll keep attempting to purchase homes despite any frustrations.
"We're going to see continuous strong demand," she said.