The local real estate market for the third quarter showed a 10.9 percent gain over the second quarter, according to data released by the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors.

However, sales were down 5.1 percent compared to the third quarter a year ago.

In the third three-month period of this year, the Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia area saw the sale of 1,624 residential units.

CAR officials said, "The continuing economic challenges and worries about consumer confidence continue to weigh down on the real estate market. Home sales generally lead the way in any recovery, but require help from more positive employment numbers to do so."

Median price figures for the period witnessed a decrease to $130,000 – a drop of 7% from the third quarter of 2008.

Officials said, "While a positive sign, in terms of affordability, the price drop sometimes might indicate a slower economic outlook. However, the increase of only four extra days on the market – from 120 a year ago to 126 in the past quarter is statistically insignificant."

Nickie Schwartzkopf, president of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors, said, “The longer term assessment – calculating beyond the month-to-month regime that we’re used to – shows us that real growth, no matter how slow, is beginning to take hold.”

She added, “While local home sales are behind from the same period last year, we’ve seen them trending upward from the second quarter of this year, as local consumer confidence continues to grow and from local buyers who took advantage of the $8,000 first-time buyer’s credit. I’d place more emphasis, personally, on where our immediate trends are taking us, rather than the backward snapshot of July through September during the unusual period that was 2008.

“While it’s been great to see the decline in interest rates, and the wonderful indications of true affordability in our local and regional market, those statistics mean little if potential homebuyers are out of a job. And when they eventually return to the workforce, there may be serious issues about their creditworthiness with some lenders.”

Kathy Tucker, president of the local Multiple Listings Service, said, “No one can be pleased by what we’ve seen nationally and locally within the employment picture.

“The National Association of Realtors has projected that a discernible turnaround in the unemployment rate could be as far off as the second or third quarter of 2010. That’s not only damaging to our industry, but hurtful to the hard-working members of the public who are still struggling to find work”

The two realty leaders concurred that "it is axiomatic that recovery may come slower to both Chattanooga and the State of Tennessee, because our areas were not as deeply affected by the economic slowdown in the early going as were some of the major U.S. markets were."