Metro Atlanta home sales in August rose 11.9 percent from the same month a year earlier, but the supply of listings faltered, according to a monthly housing report out.
With the peak of the sales season typically coming earlier in the summer, prices and sales dipped from July. However, the overall trajectory of year-to-year increases continued.
Across the region 7,038 homes were sold, compared to 6,291 in August of 2014, according to the report from Georgia Multiple Listing Service.
Prices were also up, MLS said. The median sale price during the month was $187,000, a 5.7 percent boost from a year ago. The average sale price was $239,986 in August, up 5.2 percent.
The highest priced homes in metro Atlanta were in Forsyth County, which boasted a median price of $294,000. The lowest-priced homes were in Jasper County, with a median sale price of $90,900.
The month’s report was a sign that the market was still continuing its long, slow recovery from the devastating crisis that followed the burst of the housing bubble.
But one indicator remained a sticking point.
For more than a year, experts have warned that inventories – that is, the number of homes listed for sale – have been historically low, an obstacle to full recovery.
Inventories in a healthy market should represent about seven months of sales. Inventories in August were 4.1 months, up very slightly from July, but down from 4.5 months a year ago, according to MLS.
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