Bank-repossessed houses still comprise nearly a third of home sales.
Property foreclosures and personal bankruptcies in Chattanooga both declined in the first quarter of 2011 from the year-ago period.
In the first three months of the year, the number of property foreclosures in Hamilton County fell by more than 30 percent from the same period a year ago. Bankruptcy filings in the Chattanooga office of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court were down nearly 8 percent from last year.
Despite the decline, nearly one third of the local home sales in the first quarter of 2011 still came from foreclosed or repossessed properties, according to data from the Chattanooga Association of Realtors multiple listing service.