A Dartmouth Street home for sale in North Chattanooga is among a shrinking inventory of houses on the market in Chattanooga, which is pushing up median sales prices.By the numbers
› 6.1 percent: Increase in Chattanooga area home sales last month over a year ago › 2.2 percent: Increase in home sales nationwide over a year ago › $153,750: Median home price for homes sold last month in Chattanooga, up 12.4 percent from a year ago › $210,800: Median home price for homes sold nationwide last month, up 4.4 percent from a year ago Sources: National Association of Realtors, Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors
Chattanooga home sales continued to outpace last year's record high levels last month despite a decline in the supply of homes on the market.
The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors said Monday that home sales during February rose 6.1 percent over a year ago to 846 single-family houses and condos. The sales gain was nearly triple the nationwide gain in home sales compared with a year ago and came despite a 12.4 percent jump in the median sales price of homes sold last month in Chattanooga compared with a year ago.
Mark Hite, a Keller Williams real estate agent who is president-elect of the Greater Chattanooga Realtors Association, said demand for homes in Chattanooga is outpacing the supply, in many instances. The inventory of homes on the maket in February dropped by 17.4 percent, or or 752 homes, from a year ago.
"We're seeing our inventory of homes on the market being down to its lowest point in 10 years," Hite said. "We need more houses to sell because when the shelves are empty it puts more pressure upward on prices. It's a positive place to be if you are a home seller right now and I would urge anyone thinking about selling their home to take advantage of the market right now."
The typical home sold in Chattanooga last month for $153,750, up from $136,800 a year ago.
So far this year, Realtors have closed 9.7 percent more home sales than in the first two months of 2015 even though the number of homes for sale plunged by 17.4 percent from 4,328 in February 2015 to 3,576 last month.
New construction of homes lagged during the Great Recession and its aftermath and Chattanooga's rising population is putting more pressure on home prices.
"We're getting multiple offers on many properties and that tends to push the price up," said Nathan Walldorf, a vice president for Herman Walldorf & Co. Realtors and the 2016 president of the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors.
February home sales nationwide, adjusted for seasonal factors, were down 7.1 percent from the January pace when home sales rose to the highest annual rate in six months.
"We assume the plunge in the stock market in the first six weeks of this year persuaded some potential homebuyers to reconsider, at least temporarily," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Shepherdson noted that sales momentum "stalled" in February, but sales volumes might pick-up in the spring.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said existing sales disappointed in February but should improve in the balance of the year.
"The overall demand for buying is still solid entering the busy spring season, but home prices and rents outpacing wages and anxiety about the health of the economy are holding back a segment of would-be buyers," he said.
The median existing-home prices for all housing types in February was $210,800, up 4.4 percent from February 2015
Home sales have been aided over the past year by hiring that has pushed unemployment to a healthy 4.9 percent. And homebuyers are benefiting from relatively low borrowing costs.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said last week the average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.73 percent, compared to a historic average of roughly 6 percent.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.