Greater Chattanooga Realtors announced that for the month of May, housing inventory decreased, while pending sales and the median sales price experienced a sharp increase.
While the effects of COVID-19 in the broader economy continue, real estate activity is beginning to recover across much of the country. Buyers have been quicker to return to the housing market in force than sellers, who have been showing a bit more reluctance to list their homes than is typical for this time of year. But trends are improving and as states and localities continue to moderate their COVID-19 policies, real estate activity is expected to continue to improve in the coming weeks.
Locally, New Listings in the Chattanooga region decreased 13.9 percent to 1,235. Pending Sales were up 9.3 percent to 1,208. Inventory levels shrank 31.9 percent to 2,006 units.
Prices continued to gain traction. The Median Sales Price increased 7.8 percent to $221,000. Days on Market was down 4.7 percent to 41 days. Sellers were encouraged as Months Supply of Inventory was down 35.3 percent to 2.2 months.
According to Freddie Mac, mortgage rates have been below 3.3 percent for more than four weeks and are hovering near all-time lows, spurring strong interest by buyers and lifting showing activity up 4 percent nationally versus a year ago in the final week of May.