Brian and Amy Hager stand in front of their newly finished home Saturday afternoon on Hearthstone Circle in the Overlook subdivision. The Hagers moved into the home this past June.HOMEOWNER FYI• 87,802 Number of owner-occupied homes in Hamilton County, housing 65.5 percent of all county residents.• 2.5 Average number of residents per owner-occupied house in Hamilton County.• $147,200 Median value of owner-occupied homes in Hamilton County.• $121,700 Median value of homes sold by Chattanooga Realtors in the fourth quarter of 2011, down 2.3 percent from the same period a year ago. Chattanooga home prices were 25.6 percent less than the U.S. median home price of $163,500 in the same period.• $1,182 Median monthly mortgage for home buyers in Hamilton County.Sources: U.S. Bureau of Census, National Association of Realtors
Some Chattanooga developers are finding spots of growth in a housing market still recovering from the recession.
“Interest rates are down low, people are confident in the economy and keeping their jobs, so people are building homes,” said Tina Frizzell, vice president of Pratt Home Builders.
Like in so many other communities, home sales stagnated in Chattanooga around 2008, leaving many new homes empty.
“There really has not been a lot built,” civil engineer Mike Price said of Chattanooga. “You’re probably not going to get a lot of new subdivisions built until the end of next year or the year after that.”