The sun is shining brighter for longer, the birds are chirping a bit louder and people have a renewed spring in their step. And then there's the climate.
Both home buyers and sellers are readying themselves for an exciting spring market as buyers are motivated by an attractive affordability environment, while more and more sellers are receiving near top dollar for their home.
- The Greater Chattanooga area saw the sale of 484 residential units, a 7.6 percent increase from last year's number.
- Some of the areas locally that saw double-digit growth were: Tiftonia, Lookout Valley, Elder Mountain, North Chattanooga, Mount Creek, Riverview, Rivermont, Lookout Mountain, St. Elmo, Highland Park, Avondale, Missionary Ridge and the city of East Ridge.
- New Listings in the Chattanooga region were up 1.6 percent to 952.
- Inventory shrank 9.9 percent to 4,570 units.
- Prices softened somewhat as the median sales price was down 0.5 percent to $123,000.
- Days on market decreased 7.2 percent to 128 days, the 10th consecutive month of year-over-year declines.
- The month's supply of inventory was down 20.4 percent to 8.2 months, indicating that once again, demand increased relative to supply.
A few consumers may feel less confident due to Washington's latest self-inflicted crisis. Others would advise not to read the news in the first place. The fact is, the economy continues to grow, but at a snail's pace. Sequestration is more of a nuisance than a real threat to recovery; and there's significant pent-up demand from renters, first-timers, parents and investors to counteract it.
With February's jobs data looking better than expected and inflation running well within the Fed's target range, mortgage rates ticked slightly higher. It's not much, and this affordability environment is still hugely attractive, but it's just enough to notice.
Combined with low inventory, low rates have been a prominent motivation for buyers. But sellers need the real encouragement these days. Consistent year-over-year price gains have proven insufficient thus far, but that's subject to change come spring. Stay tuned...
-Mark Blazek
President, Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors