Chattanooga home sales in the fourth quarter of 2009 were up 19.8 percent over a year ago, but median home prices in the region continued to decline for the second consecutive year, according to Realtors’ data released today.
In the final three months of last year, Realtors sold 1,527 residential units, up from the 1,275 units sold in the same period in 2008.
“It’s probably safe to say that the worst of the recession is behind us,” said Randy Durham, president of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors. “Though we have been better off than many other regions, no long-term permanent recovery can take place without a prosperous population with a positive outlook for the future.”
In a separate report, the National Association of Realtors said today that home prices continued to fall in the final three months of 2009.
In Chattanooga, the median sales price of existing homes sold by Realtors declined by 2.5 percent from a year ago to an average of $120,700 in the fourth quarter. The drop in Chattanooga was less than the 4.1 percent decline in home prices nationwide, the national association reported.
But the median sales price of homes sold in Chattanooga still was more than 30 percent below the U.S. median sales price of $172,900 for existing homes.
For all of 2009, the median home price of existing houses sold in the Chattanooga area was $122,600, or 5 percent below the median in 2008 and 6.3 percent below the median price in 2007.
Despite the dip in home prices in Chattanooga, the National Association of Realtors report showed that home prices did begin to increase in the fourth quarter in about 40 percent of the 151 markets included in today’s report.