When Realtor Mark Hite listed a two-bedroom house on Pryon Lane in East Ridge on Monday, he had eight offers within 36 hours – most of them well above the $155,000 asking price for the 823-square-foot home.
“It’s very common to see multiple purchase offers for homes as soon as they come on the market, especially if they are ready to move into and are priced below $200,000 like this house,” Hite said Wednesday. “The market is still out of balance with more homebuyers than home sellers, although we’re also beginning to see a little bit of normalization with more homes coming on the market and a bit of a break from the continual price increases we were seeing.”
The typical single-family home sold within 15 days of being listed for sale in September – the quickest selling pace on record, according to a new report from the Greater Chattanooga Realtors’ multiple listing service. The average selling period for residential sales in Chattanooga last month was only about a third of what it was a year earlier.
Despite a slight dip in September home sales compared with the record high volume a year ago, total home sales in the first nine months of the year by Chattanooga Realtors were still up 8.8% above the same period last year when Realtor-assisted sales hit a record high.
“September usually starts hot, and by the end of the month, a shift in weather is usually a sign of fall’s arrival,” said Robert Backer, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Pryor Realty who is president of the Greater Chattanooga Realtors Association. “Well, our current housing market has kept a similar trend with the temperature; locally, there are little signs of any cooling-off period. A limited supply of housing and increased selling prices are keeping the market very hot indeed.”