Home prices in metro Atlanta cooled a bit in October compared to a month earlier, mirroring the slight downturn in prices nationwide, according to a closely-watched index released Tuesday.
Prices in the Atlanta region dipped 0.2 percent in October from September, matching the rate of decline reported nationally by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. The metro Atlanta decline was only slightly greater than the 0.1 percent dip reported in the indices’ benchmark 20-city composite.
Despite the slight stumble from month-to-month, there’s good news overall.
On an annual basis, home prices in metro Atlanta rose 4.5 percent, in line with the 4.5 percent gain reported in the 20-city composite and the 4.6 percent annual increase in national home prices, the report said.
Home prices in Atlanta are now near the level of January 2004, during the economic boom.
“Now several years into the recovery, the year-over-year changes in prices are a little more modest and candidly a little more sustainable,” said Roger Tutterow, an economist with Kennesaw State University. He said gains in 2015 of 4 percent to 5 percent are well within reason.
As values rise both locally and nationally, homeowners who were previously underwater — owing more than their homes are worth — are beginning to regain equity and the flexibility to sell their homes and trade up or move to other areas in search of work.
That’s good for the overall economy, Tutterow said, and metro Atlanta is generally a recipient of in-migration.
The Case-Shiller report tracks existing home sales and is a closely followed barometer of health for the regional and national single-family home sales.
The October report was a mixed-bag nationally. Ten metro areas in the report’s 20-city index reported monthly price increases, while eight showed slight declines and two were flat, the report said.
Miami and San Francisco — 9.5 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively — saw the greatest annual gains in October vs. the same month in 2013.
The Case-Shiller report is a sampling of repeat sales of existing single-family homes and it is reported as an index with a baseline of 100, which represents the January 2000 prices in each market it tracks.
Atlanta reached peak prices in July 2007, according to the report, and home prices fell off the cliff thanks to the financial crisis and a glut of foreclosures. Prices didn’t bottom out in metro Atlanta until March 2012 at levels not seen since the mid-1990s.
“After a long period when home prices rose, but at a slower pace with each passing month, we are seeing hints that prices could end 2014 on a strong note and accelerate into 2015,” David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a news release.
