Market Stats for August 2009

These posts are a shout out to all the geeks out there who enjoy crunching a few numbers. Install your pocket protector in its rightful spot and savor the moment!

All of Chattanooga / Hamilton County Real Estate Sales through the MLS
All active, residential listings as of 9/3/09: 2,803
Pending or contingent listings (under contract) as of 9/3/09: 418
Residential listings closed (sold) during August 2009: 295
Number of months to sell current actives at August's sales pace: 9.5

Hamilton County, under $100,000
Active, residential listings: 582
Pending or contingent listings: 104
Residential listings closed during August 2009: 91
Number of months to sell current actives at August's sales pace: 6.4

Hamilton County, $100,000-200,000
Active, residential listings: 1,041
Pending or contingent listings: 208
Residential listings closed during August 2009: 130
Number of months to sell current actives at August's sales pace: 8.0

Hamilton County, $200,000-400,000
Active, residential listings: 785
Pending or contingent listings: 90
Residential listings closed during August 2009: 55
Number of months to sell current actives at August's sales pace: 14.3

Hamilton County, over $400,000
Active, residential listings: 396
Pending or contingent listings: 15
Residential listings closed during August 2009: 19
Number of months to sell current actives at August's sales pace: 20.8

For all the non-geeks out there who need a little interpretation:

Long story short: if you've got a house that you want to sell for under $100k, get crackin'! There are lots of buyers out there for houses in this price range and not so very many houses, especially ones that aren't falling down or located in Upper Slumtown (or both! Adventures in homeownership!). The first time buyer credit is doing its job and convincing a lot of property virgins to get down off the fence. Who doesn't love free money??

The next tier up isn't faring too bad either. There are still quite a few first timers looking in this price range as well. Seventy-nine of those 130 sold last month were under $150,000. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the lower the price, the better things are moving...

...especially when you look at the top end of the Chattanooga real estate market: over $400,000. Quite frankly, if I had a house in this price range I might keep it off the market and wait for greener pastures ahead. In fact, there was only one lonely little house (OK, so "little" is a bit of a misnomer - it was 6,500 sq. ft.) that sold for more than $800,000 last month, compared to 110 currently on the market. While it's a little tough to feel sorry for people living in a million dollar house, still, that's a difficult pill to swallow.