Atlanta area home prices continued to rise last month, even as the number of sales dropped.
The median price of a home sold last month edged up 2.4 percent to $253,000 in June, according to a report from the Atlanta Board of Realtors.
More importantly for reading the longer term trends, that median was up solidly from the same month a year ago, rising 7.7 percent from June 2015.
The board uses data collected by First Multiple Listing Service, Inc. for an 11-county area centering on the city of Atlanta.
Total home sales fell in June. There were 5,392 homes sold, down 6.3 percent from May.
The pace of selling often decelerates after the peak of the spring buying. But more tellingly – and more ominously for the overall housing market – the number of homes sold was down 6.1 percent from the same month a year ago.
As it usually is, the average price of sales shows a preponderance of sales at the upper tiers of the market: The average price of sales in June was $311,000 and that is a modest 3.3 percent higher than they were a year ago.
One of the market’s more talked-about imbalances is the lack of inventory – that is, homes for sale. And that situation has not improved over the past year, according to the board’s report.
Since June of 2015, listings have dipped 2.3 percent — that is, they are basically flat. But there are hopeful signs, the board report said: the number of new listings was up 7.7 percent from May and is 20 percent higher than a year ago.
Experts say that in a healthy market, the number of homes for sale represents six or seven months of sales. The current supply of homes now represents just 3.6 months of sales.
Sales and median prices in the region’s largest counties during the month:
— Cobb, 1,003 sales with a median of $266,000
— DeKalb, 704 sales with a median of $268,000
— Fulton, 911 sales with a median of $377,000
— Gwinnett, 1,142 sales with a median of $225,000.
