Sale prices
The median sale price of metro Atlanta homes is up substantially over the previous year.
Month…..Median price…..Year-over-year percent increase
May…..$200,000…..39.9 percent
June…..$215,000…..6.3 percent
July…..$217,000…..47.1 percent
August…..$205,675…..38.5 percent
September…..$189,000…..35 percent
October…..$189,704…..5.5 percent
November…..$181,000…..20.7 percent
December…..$196,000…..21 percent
January…..$180,000…..22.4 percent
February…..$187,000…..16.9 percent
Source: Atlanta Board of Realtors
Homes sold
The number of homes sold in metro Atlanta dropped from the year before in six of the past seven months. February data is preliminary.
Month…..Total sales…..Year-over-year percent change
May…..4,600…..5.5 percent
June…..4,351…..7 percent
July…..4,623…..9.5 percent
August…..4,268…..- 1.2 percent
September…..3,594…..- 0.9 percent
October…..3,613…..- 5.3 percent
November…..3,103…..- 9 percent
December…..3,429…..2.9 percent
January…..2,561…..- 4.6 percent
February…..2,344…..- 19.1 percent
Source: Atlanta Board of Realtors
WHY IT MATTERS
Home sales and values are important even to people who aren’t likely to sell or buy anytime soon. The state of the housing market contributes to the so-called “wealth effect” that helps drive the broader economy by making people more confident about purchases of all types.
myajc.com
Why are home prices going up? One reason is that foreclosure numbers are going down. Read more at www.myajc.com/business.
WHY IT MATTERS
Home sales and values are important even to people who aren’t likely to sell or buy anytime soon. The state of the housing market contributes to the so-called “wealth effect” that helps drive the broader economy by making people more confident about purchases of all types.
myajc.com
Why are home prices going up? One reason is that foreclosure numbers are going down. Read more at www.myajc.com/business.
Metro Atlanta home sales fell off a cliff in February, dropping 19.1 percent from the year before.
Blame bad weather, said Ennis Antoine, president-elect of the Atlanta Board of Realtors. The Jan. 28 ice storm that stranded people on highways, followed by a second snow storm mid-February that kept people home, “was horrible” for home sales, he said.
The storms “kind of put (sales) on ice,” Antoine said.
But sales would have decreased regardless of the weather. February is the sixth month in the past seven that sales have fallen, according to the Atlanta Board of Realtors. Previous decreases have been in the single digits.
Except for December, when sales rose 2.9 percent from the prior year, home sales in the 11-county metro region have decreased every month since August. Sales also fell 8.5 percent in February from January.
In addition to the weather, the other reason for the steep decline is inventory. The availability of for-sale homes remains at only about half the normal level.
On the other hand, prices continue to rise. The median sale price in February, $187,000, was up 16.9 percent from 2013, according to the Atlanta Board of Realtors.
Realtors and other housing experts are optimistic about the typical spring selling season, which they say already shows signs of improvement. Since the beginning of March, more buyers have been signing contracts and more homes have been listed, Antoine said. Whether those listings would increase has been one of the main questions about the upcoming season.
“We’re starting to see a slight increase in inventory,” Antoine said. “They’re going to show up.”
Mallory Boggs and her fiancee, Dan Hesketh, made an offer on a Smyrna home Wednesday, just hours after looking at it. Theirs was the second of 12 showings that day, and while they had been looking online since December, Boggs said the home was the first they had seen in person.
Others they looked at online disappeared before they could get to them, she said. Because their wedding is in July, and they like the bones of the house, she felt the need to jump on it.
“You’ve got to be really picky when you’re home shopping, but you also have to know what you want and move quickly,” Boggs said. “When we found this house Monday, we both loved it. It was a huge moment.”
Antoine said there will be more buyers than sellers for quite some time, even as more homes come on the market. That will make for quick sales in many cases, he said, as inventory stays low.
Home inventory is measured in months’ supply, and a 6-month supply is considered normal. At its worst, metro Atlanta’s supply rose to 18 months. At the end of February, it was down to 3.5 months; last spring, there were 4.1 months of supply, said John Hunt, a senior analyst with real estate analysis firm Smart Numbers.
“We’re entering a spring selling cycle pretty much like we did last year,” Hunt said. “It tells me we’re going to have another good year for new construction.”
Tight supply of existing homes for sale has rekindled home building over the past year. Hunt said building permits were “abnormally strong” for February.
But Hunt is still not certain that local move-up buyers will be moved to put their homes on the market. Some who might have moved three or four years ago are likely going to stay in one place because their circumstances have changed.
Boggs’ Realtor, Harriet Hinson, said people put houses on the market when their yards start to bloom. In another month, when the flowers are out, she’ll know whether the spring will be a strong one.
Hinson — with the Hinson Team and RE/MAX Around Atlanta — said agents are scrambling for listings. She’s already put two houses under contract this month and hopes to have two more — including Boggs’ house — under contract by the weekend.
“People love to buy homes when it’s a beautiful day,” she said. “Now, everybody’s getting the fever.”
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