As I tell my friends and family, real estate is still happening; just in a different way. I love statistics. I enjoy seeing the metrics of home sales. Each week I see the market activity from our Multiple Listing Service, and I compare to the numbers from previous years. Up until COVID-19, I would look at the activity and see the sharp rise in market activity and selling prices.
COVID-19 happened and some things changed, but something else happened. Or rather, it didn’t.
The selling prices continued to increase. Not only that, the available inventory went down, and that meant that the available houses for sell was down. When this pandemic unfolded, homesellers decided to wait to list their property. Many people thought that real estate would suffer on a national and local scale. However, I’m seeing some interesting data from our MLS.
For the week ending May 16, Pending Home Sales increased 31.2 percent to 311. That’s right, homes that were in the process of being sold actually increased by almost a third from this point last year. At this week last year, 237 properties were under contract. This year, 311 properties were under contract. That’s a big jump!
This shows that people are moving into our area, and they’re looking for their next home in the greater Chattanooga area. Looking for more evidence? How about the number of homes currently for sale in our area? This past week showed local housing inventory decreased 26.3 percent to 2,135. This point a year ago, there were nearly 2,900 properties on the market. What does this mean? This means that people are looking for homes to buy, but there are less properties available.
And for those listing their property without a realtor looking to save money? You should think again. In fact, individuals who use a realtor to sell their property get an average of 98.5 percent of their list price. This means that realtors work to get the most for their clients in this highly competitive environment. Realtors work every day to help their clients get the most for their investment. Regardless of the market conditions, we make sure that we represent homebuyers and sellers to make sure that we meet their needs. That’s who we R.