Sales Up in Atlanta, Values Down

 A good news – bad news post. Homes sales in metro Atlanta were up about 25% from the same month last year, that’s above the national average of about a 15% increase. Remember though, the government incentives intended to jump start things in ’10 were ending about this time last year. Regardless, any positive move is very welcomed!

The “but” centers around the median sale price for the Atlanta market – $94,000 which is down from the last year at this time figure of $111,500. The numbers are not great for Atlanta real estate however there’s a “but” there as well. A total of 15 counties comprise the “metro Atlanta” real estate market – that’s a significant area with significantly different demographics. Break that area down into submarkets and data shows conflicting results for each. Several areas are stable and even increasing; others continue to be awash in distressed and REO inventory. History is the best indicator of future performance; while everything has settled there are pockets of metro Atlanta much more healthy than others.

From the AJC article:

Walter Molony with NAR said sales in September 2010 were very poor because a tax credit for home purchases had expired during that summer, so even though 2011 numbers are up comparatively, they still are not good.

“The good news is the market is trying to recover on its own without a tax credit,” Molony said. The bad news is that despite record low interest rates and declining home prices, the market is still underperforming, he said. Metro Atlanta’s median existing home sales price fell from $111,500 in September 2010 to $94,000 last month, or by 15 percent. Nationally, the drop was about 4 percent, the NAR report said. About one in three sales in metro Atlanta was a home under foreclosure or a short sale, and that is keeping prices depressed, said Steve Palm of Smart Numbers, a local real estate analysis firm.

He said the median price has not been lower in metro Atlanta since 1996. “September was a new bottom in pricing,” he said. “One out of four houses is going for less than $50,000.” The low prices are helping drive sales, but the NAR report said every fifth home is going to an investor, not an owner who will live in the house.

Inventory of homes for sale in metro Atlanta is also dropping, which typically pushes prices upward. But the market has changed from normal financial times. “No one is putting their house on the market,” Palm said. “Foreclosures are rampant, people are afraid to move, they are afraid of getting beat up when selling their house. They are in limbo land.”

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