Home Sales Show Modest Rebound

The local real estate market began its long awaited - if modest - rebound in the month to month statistics released today, in both number of homes sold and median price, according to data released by the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) of the Chattanooga Association of REALTORS®.

In May of this year, Southeast Tennessee and the Northwest Georgia area saw the sale of 484 residential units, a 20.4% increase compared to the previous month's sales although still lagging far behind sales at the same point in the previous year.

Starting what is hoped to be a positive trend, the May figures are showing that, despite the continuance of the nation's economic challenges and flagging consumer confidence, real estate continues to be the stalwart leader in the U.S. economic recovery picture.

"You'll find that most prominent economists believe that housing starts and existing home sales are often seen as lead indicators, unlike employment figures which are typically considered a lagging indicator", says Nickie Schwartzkopf, President of the Chattanooga Association of REALTORS®.

"Housing starts very often lead the economy by six to eight months, while existing home sales lead the economy by a little more than three months." She added, "I say this with a measure of caution, but despite our good news in this cycle, there is apparently nothing that seems to be following any set of rules at this point in this recovery."

"I'm certainly optimistic, seeing these new numbers", says Kathy Tucker, President of the Chattanooga Area MLS. "But we still recognize that existing home sales throughout the entire country have been "saw-tooth", and by that I mean that they are rising one month only to fall the next month. This pattern of ups and downs in alternating 30-day cycles goes back about seven or eight months. It's been disappointing that our most recent "up" numbers still have underachieved in what I know to be this market's capacity."

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