When it came to sales, June was a pretty good month for the metro Atlanta housing market, but the inventory of homes for sale continued to be a problem, according to a report issued this morning.
The month saw 7,908 homes sold, a solid 8.5 percent rise from the month before and a 17.6 percent jump from June of last year, according to a compilation of 29 counties in the region by the Georgia Multiple Listing Service.
However, the number of homes listed for sale lagged: In what is often the strongest real estate month of the year, inventory represented barely 4 months worth of sales when a healthy market typically has six to eight months of inventory.
Inventory was up slightly from May, but it was 9.1 percent below the level of June 2014, according to MLS.
As usual, the intensity of the market has differed from place to place. The fastest growth in the number of sales compared to a year ago came in suburban counties:
— Pickens, up 66.7 percent
— Newton, up 44.4 percent
— Barrow, up 36.2 percent
— Bartow, up 32.9 percent
— Paulding, up 30.9percent
Among the inner counties, Gwinnett’s growth was strongest: sales were up 30.2 percent from a year ago.
Seven counties saw the number of sales decline: Butts, Henry, Walton, Forsyth, Morgan, Pike and Dawson.
For the entire region, the median sales price for homes sold in June was $199,000 – only a few dollars below May’s median price. Compared to a year ago, the median price was up 7.6 percent.
That year-to-year comparison was consistent with the pattern of recent months: prices are rising, but not at the double-digit pace of last year.
The average price of a home sold in metro Atlanta in June was $253,183, up ever-so-slightly from May. Compared to a year earlier, that average price was up 5.6 percent.
Forsyth County had the highest median sales price of a home sold in June: $312,990. At the other end of the spectrum, the lowest median price was in Lamar County, $64,299.
Among the core counties, Clayton was lowest, with a median of $75,000.
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