Average Atlanta home prices dipped late in late fall while national prices continued to rise, according to a closely-watched report.
Atlanta prices slipped 0.3 percent in November, while the U.S. average edged up 0.1 percent during the month, according to today’s release of the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index.
Atlanta prices were still 5.7 percent higher than a year earlier, while the national average was up 5.3 percent in that time, according to the index.
Only a handful of metro areas have surpassed the levels reached before the housing bubble burst and prices began to slide.
Atlanta is one of the regions whose average remains below its pre-recession peak. Atlanta’s average price has risen 52.3 percent since its low in 2012, but is still 7.9 below its previous crest, reached in mid-2007.
“Home prices continue to recover from the collapse that began before the recession of 2007-2009 and continued until 2012,” said David Blitzer, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices in a statement.
Among the 20 largest metro areas, only three – Dallas, Denver and Portland – have reached new all-time highs, according to Blitzer. “San Francisco is even with its earlier peak and Charlotte NC is less than 1 percent below its previous peak.”
This is the closest to “normal” that the housing market has been in many years, said Svenja Gudell, chief economist for Zillow, a Seattle-based housing research firm. “Home value growth has largely stabilized at a sustainable level and the runaway appreciation that marked the last few years has passed.”
Atlanta’s slippage shrinks when seasonal patterns are accounted for, although the national picture was much stronger, according to Case-Shiller.
Adjusted for the time of year, Atlanta’s average was up 1.0 percent during November. Using the same adjustment, the national average rose 0.9 percent.
The Case-Shiller report “suggests the U.S housing market may be entering yet another expansionary period headed into 2016,” said Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist at Trulia, a San Francisco-based home listing company.
