Condo construction slower, prices lower

By Michelle E. Shaw

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Fewer than 600 new condos hit the metro Atlanta market in 2009, the smallest number in more than a decade, according to a report from a local consulting firm.

Significant price cuts accompanied the new units, helping to stimulate sales, said David Haddow, president of Haddow & Co., lead writer of the year-end condo report.

“There would have been a real problem if the prices had been cut and there were still no buyers,” he said.

About 577 condos were under construction at the end of the year. More than 4,800 units in a number of developments have been proposed but “are not likely to commence anytime soon,” the report says.

“I think the low number of deliveries and condos under construction is the good news in this report,” said David Tufts, president of the Marketing Directors, a condo sales and marketing firm. “This shows things are getting cleaned up a little.”

Tufts said if the pool of condos under construction stays low it will give existing units an opportunity to sell. He added the report is evidence that developers are paying attention to the market, and that’s not something they always do, he said.

“But the biggest function is that there is no financing available for such projects,” he said.

Condo sales fell 9 percent decline in the second half of the year, compared to the fist six months, but full-year sales rose 70 percent over 2008.

Last year 1,095 condos were sold, up from 645 sales during 2008, but both figures are still well below the annual average of 2,321 units over the past decade, the report says.