Metro Atlanta home prices were up 6.6 percent in May from a year earlier, according to a report issued this morning by CoreLogic.
The CoreLogic index showed metro Atlanta prices climbing slightly faster than the national average of 6.3 percent, the 39th consecutive month in which year-over-year values have risen.
Low mortgage rates along with a steadily improving job market have set the stage, not only for more housing sales for more construction as well, said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.
“As rising values build equity for homeowners, we expect to see more existing homes offered for sale in the coming year,” he said.
Despite years of slow improvement, many thousands of Atlanta homeowners have lost homes to foreclosure. Many others have been effectively “pinned” in homes because the house value is still less than they owe on their mortgage.
Those problems continue to burden the market – albeit less dramatically.
Not including sales of distressed properties – whose value was often depressed in previous sales – the increase was a bit more modest: The price of single family homes was up 5.1 percent over the past year, according to CoreLogic.
CoreLogic is one of several national reports tracking home prices. Using different methodologies, they measure and rank regions somewhat differently, but all have shown metro Atlanta prices overall rising. They also agree that the pace of Atlanta price increases has slowed since last summer and fall when they were rising at a double-digit pace.
Metro Atlanta remains comparatively affordable, according to a separate report today – this one from Realtor.com.
The median list price of a home in the region last month was $238,000 – so Atlanta ties with Orlando for 31st highest among the top 50 metro areas. Just ahead is Las Vegas at $240,000, just behind is Charlotte at $234,000.
A disproportionate number of Atlanta homes are higher priced, so the average listing last month was $358,459, according to Realtor.com.
Using that average price, Atlanta moves up slightly: The region ranks 27th among the top 50 metros – just below Baltimore and just above Raleigh.
The San Jose area has the nation’s highest average home price: $1.4 million. San Jose also tops the list with the highest median list price: $898,000
San Francisco is second with an average of $1.2 million and a median of $762,000, according to Realtor.com.
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