Now's a great time to buy a home in Chattanooga, Tennessee!

Chattanooga experienced strong growth in sales and home prices during recent years but not the extraordinary growth many parts of the country realized. At our market's peak, sellers had only a slight advantage over buyers. Multiple buyers for a single property and sales prices that exceeded the original asking price were rare. Only the hottest locations sold exceptionally fast. Likewise, as some markets across the country slowed in 2006, the Chattanooga market continued to grow. Builders thrived. Then the "credit crunch" hit this year. Lenders paused to get themselves back under control, discontinued riskier loans and tightened qualifications on the remaining products.

Tougher lending standards reduced the number of buyers, and robust new construction contributed to more homes being available for the remaining buyers. The average days on market returned to a "pre-boom" level of 120 in November of this year from a low of around 70 days in 2004. Sellers started responding to the change in our market by lowering their asking price or deciding not to sell. In November, around 10% of the listings reduced price by an average of 8%. Another 10% or so of the listings were withdrawn or expired. Because sellers' expectations are lining up with the market, final sales price as a percent of list price dropped only slightly from 97.5% in 2005 to 96% this past November.  Download the Market Statistics in the upper right corner of this page for supporting detail.

Why is now a great time to buy? Chattanooga continues to be a great place to live. Interest rates are low. Buyers are getting better values and selection is up.