CHATTANOOGA, Tenn — Buying a home in the Scenic City has become far tougher since the pandemic, even though local incomes are climbing faster than much of the country.
That’s according to a new study from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), which you can read in full below.
The report, released by UTC’s Center for Regional Economic Research, shows the median list price for homes in the Chattanooga metro area jumped about 39 percent between 2019 and 2025, reaching $412,450 this summer. That’s an increase of roughly $117,000 in just six years.
At the same time, the average home size listed for sale in the area shrank by nearly 12 percent. The typical listing dropped from about 2,200 square feet before the pandemic to just under 2,000 today.
Even though home prices and mortgage rates have both soared, the report found that faster local income growth has helped ease some of the pressure. Real median household income in the Chattanooga area rose by 13.5 percent between 2019 and 2024, compared to just 3.9 percent nationwide…