Homes sold
The number of homes sold in metro Atlanta is decreasing, in large part because of the low inventory of homes available for sale. November figures are preliminary.
Month…..Total sales…..Month-over-month percent change
April…..3,784…..up 3.6 percent
May…..4,600….. up 21.6 percent
June…..4,351….. up 5.4 percent
July…..4,623….. up 6.3 percent
August…..4,268….. up 7.7 percent
September…..3,594….. up 15.8 percent
October…..3,613….. up 0.5 percent
November…..2,971…..down 17.8 percent
Source: Atlanta Board of Realtors
Sales prices
The median sales price of metro Atlanta homes is up substantially over the previous year, but the increase is starting to ease.
Month…..Median price…..Year-over-year percent change
April…..$190,000…..45.9 percent
May…..$200,000…..39.9 percent
June…..$215,000…..46.3 percent
July…..$217,000…..47.1 percent
August…..$205,675…..38.5 percent
September…..$189,000…..35 percent
October…..$189,704…..35.5 percent
November…..$181,000…..20.7 percent
Source: Atlanta Board of Realtors
Myajc.com
Revisit the AJC’s special Property Tax Meltdown investigation at www.myajc.com/properytax, including an interactive map where you can compare official property tax appraisals and sale prices for your neighborhood’s ZIP code.
As the holidays approach, fewer people want to deal with the hassle of buying a new home.
They don’t want to sell theirs, either.
That’s clear from a report released Wednesday by the Atlanta Board of Realtors. The number of houses for sale in Atlanta remains near historic lows, but experts said it’s largely decreased demand that’s causing sales to fall.
“Historically, this is a slow selling season,” said Nancy See, president of the board.
In November, 2,971 homes sold in the 11-county metro region, a 12.9 percent decrease from the same month a year ago. The sales also represent a 17.8 percent decrease from October, as people began to focus on out-of-town guests and preparing for family.
The median price of $181,000 rose 20.7 percent from a year ago, but slipped 3.7 percent from October.
New home construction is higher than it has been since February 2008, and See and others expect sales will surge in 2014 as more houses come on the market.
“There are a lot of reasons to think that it will turn upward in the new year,” she said. “Those new construction homes do demand top dollar, and I believe that will drive prices up again.”
New home building is picking up because there is still a paucity of resale homes, said John Hunt, a senior analyst with Smart Numbers, a real estate analysis service. It takes between three and six months to build a home, on average, so much of the new construction should be available in time for the peak selling season in the spring.
Pulte Group, a homebuilder that is moving its headquarters to Atlanta next summer, is seeing higher-than-average presale demand in new developments, a spokeswoman said. More customers are willing to buy homes before models are built or streets are installed, a far cry from the sales environment from 2008 to 2012.
Locally, new home closings are up 35 percent for 2013, Hunt said.
Still, he said, the November sales decrease should be expected.
“It’s just normal,” he said. “People want to move in before school starts. During the Christmas holidays, do you want people trampling through your home that you’ve decorated?”
Though the Atlanta Board of Realtors show sales have dipped, Rhonda Morgan, an associate broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Intown, said her business is still booming.
She has been proactive, she said, and had more sales this season than she did at the same time last year. Morgan said she expects business to pick up even more in January.
The market has started to stabilize in the $200,000 price range, she said, but people are still snatching up less-expensive homes.
“The people who are buying are serious buyers,” she said. “These people are showing their homes decorated, no problem. …T hey need to sell, and they need to buy.”
One such buyer is Anisha Chamble, who is due to close on a Loganville house this month.
Chamble has been looking for a home since July, when she decided to move with her four children from Pennsylvania. One house she put an offer on didn’t appraise, and she was outbid on two others. She’s been living with another family, but needed to find her own space — holiday season or not.
“We were about to stop looking to buy; we were going to rent,” she said. “I’m so tired of turning in paperwork. I’m mentally exhausted.”
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