The number of homes sold by Chattanooga Realtors rose 17 percent last year to the highest level since 2007.
Mortgage ratesMortgage rates fell last month to the lowest levels in at least 60 years. On Thursday, however, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said the rate on fixed-rate mortgages for 30-year loans rose for the second consecutive week to 3.59 percent, up form 3.55 percent last week. Two weeks ago, the rate fell to 3.49 percent, the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinancing option, rose to 2.84 percent. That’s up from 2.83 percent last week and a record low of 2.80 percent the previous week.Mortgage rates are low because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note. A weaker U.S. economy and uncertainty about how Europe will resolve its debt crisis have led investors to buy more Treasury securities, which are considered safe investments. As demand for Treasurys increase, the yield falls.
Chattanooga’s relatively sluggish growth in home prices during the 1990s is paying off now for many owners and sellers in the Scenic City.
After being shaded from the Sunbelt growth around it a decade ago, Chattanooga appears to have found its place in the sun. The National Association of Realtors reported Thursday that Chattanooga now is leading the region in bouncing back from the home price declines spawned by the recent housing slump.
The median price of existing single-family homes sold this spring in Chattanooga was up 11.4 percent over a year ago, the biggest percentage gain among any MidSouth market and more than 50 percent faster than the U.S. average percentage gain.
“Chattanooga has always been a modestly priced market, and we didn’t have the high inflation in home prices that Atlanta and many cities in Florida did in the past,” Chattanooga real estate appraiser Henry Glascock said. “Chattanooga has been a more stable and consistent market, so we are enjoying a better recovery than markets like Atlanta because we simply didn’t have the surplus inventory of new homes that many other markets had when the recession hit.”