Editor’s note: This story was updated on April 14 to correct the first quarter home sales totals.
Despite rising interest rates and growing fears of a recession over the past year, home sales and prices in the Chattanooga area have remained relatively stable.
Chattanooga real estate agents sold nearly 11% fewer houses in the first three months of this year compared with the near-record high levels reached a year earlier, according to housing figures released Thursday by the Greater Chattanooga Realtors. In the first quarter of 2023, agents sold 2,343 houses, or 388 fewer than in the first quarter of the previous year.
Despite the sales dip, the median price of homes sold last month in Chattanooga, $315,000, was up 5% from the $300,000 median price homebuyers paid in Chattanooga in March 2022.
“We are seeing a slight decline in sales as higher interest rates make housing less affordable, especially for some first-time homebuyers,” said Steven Sharpe, a managing broker for Keller Williams and president of the Greater Chattanooga Realtors. “We’re starting to see more supply of homes on the market, and we’re entering into the season when more homes come on the market during the spring and early summer. But we still see relatively strong demand in relation to the supply of homes on the market.”