The median sales price of a home in metro Atlanta dipped by $14,600 to just under $100,000 in March, according to new data from the National Association of Realtors.
“We’re back to almost 1997 levels,” said Steve Palm of housing data firm SmartNumbers. “It’s pretty bad and it’s not going to get better either.”
The volume of home sales in the area also dipped -- by 6.5 percent compared to the same month a year ago -- according to the data released Wednesday.
Palm said getting the housing market in better shape hinges on the economy, which he believes has not turned the corner.
In a speech to the Atlanta Press Club on Wednesday, Gov. Nathan Deal said this of the housing market, “It is truly one of the most troubling parts of our economy.”
It is a situation, he noted, that affects local governments more than the state, which gets a small percentage of the taxes paid by homeowners.
“What we have to do is create greater job opportunities,” Deal said.
Nationwide, the picture was slightly better than metro Atlanta. The median single-family home price in the U.S. fell $9,000 to $160,500, while sales volume declined 6.9 percent.
The South saw an interesting trend: Sales of existing single-family homes in the mid range -- between $100,000 to $500,000 -- declined significantly, while sales of homes from $500,000 to $1 million or more increased significantly.
The markets showed the best improvement in March were San Antonio, where the median home price increased 3.6 percent, and Washington, where it increased 1 percent.
The worst markets in March were St. Louis, with a 20.2-percent drop in the median home price, followed by Cincinnati’s 18.4-percent drop and Minneapolis-St. Paul’s 15.2-percent decline.
Editor's note: Rachel Tobin is president-elect of the Atlanta Press Club board.
