Bricklayers work on the facade as construction continues on Walnut Commons, a housing complex being built at the intersection of Walnut Street and Aquarium Way in downtown Chattanooga.The housing recovery isn’t around the corner. It’s here. Mostly.
While the market is still considerably off from its unsustainable peaks in 2006 and 2007, Chattanooga’s average home price has surpassed a healthy level of three times the average local income, and is well above the normal ratio of 2.7 times average income.
Builders today complain that the banks aren’t lending money fast enough for developers to create new lots, and Realtors say that some neighborhoods have 50 to 60 percent fewer options from which to choose when buying a home — both of which are good problems to have.
Nationwide, sales of previously occupied homes grew to the highest level in three and a half years, rising to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million. Median home prices in the U.S. jumped 11 percent last month from April 2012 to $192,800 — the highest in nearly five years.
Foreclosed home sales are disappearing, and buyer traffic has increased by almost a third during the year, the National Association of Realtors said.