Metro home prices plunge in 2009

Part 2 of 4

When condominium sales across metro Atlanta hit the wall in 2009, Ryan Plantz had a front row seat.

He had been condo shopping the year before but didn’t see what he wanted in his price range, so he watched and waited for the market to tank.

It didn’t take long. In November he closed on a new one-bedroom condo in Midtown’s 30308 ZIP code for 20 percent less than what he would have paid just a year earlier.

“I couldn’t be happier with what I got,” Plantz said. “I feel like I got a great deal.”

At least someone was happy. Plantz was able to do so because all across the 30308 ZIP code, a district that includes Emory Crawford Long Hospital, home prices plunged in 2009.

Across a 20-county metro area, every region saw residential sales price decline, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s annual Home Sales Report. All but two counties saw a drop in the number of homes sold, when compared to 2008, the report found. Perhaps not on a scale with the deflated markets in California, what happened in Atlanta was nevertheless unprecedented.

The report was compiled with data by Marietta-based real estate research firm SmartNumbers. It looked at home sales and prices among hundreds of metro Atlanta ZIP codes but focused on 166 ZIP codes that saw a minimum of 75 homes sold during the year.

In the core counties of Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett, the median price of single-family home — half sold for more, half sold for less — tumbled 21 percent. In addition to and perhaps because of falling prices, the number of homes sold fell 6 percent.

“If people didn’t have to sell in 2009, most likely they didn’t,” said Travis Williams, an agent with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers.

The median price of all homes sold in Plantz’s new 30308 ZIP code was $197,500, down 12 percent from 2008. There were also 10 percent fewer homes sold in the area, the data revealed.

For all of 30308’s troubles, it had plenty of company.

Of the 166 ZIP codes examined, one-third saw better numbers for homes sold, but also saw the median price of homes sold decline.

There is no one handy reason to explain why prices fell so dramatically, but distress sales and a small pool of buyers didn’t help, said Timmothy B. McCann, an assistant broker for Crye-Leike Realtors in the Smyrna/Vinings area.

“While people were waiting for prices to hit the bottom, there wasn’t a lot of buying going on,” he said. “That destroyed what pricing there was. When you add distress sales to that mix, you are creating the perfect storm.”

That storm struck Clayton County’s 30273 ZIP code, east of Clayton State University. The area experienced a 37 percent increase in the number of homes sold in 2009, but the median price fell by 47 percent over the same period, from $75,000 to $40,000.

Much the same occurred in DeKalb County’s 30032, just south and west of East Lake Country Club, where the number of homes sold rose, but the median price fell 44 percent, from $54,000 to $30,000.

“A lot of people who had to sell in 2009 were the victims of bad timing,” said Williams. “Those who tried to sell in 2008 for one price realized they couldn’t sell for those same prices in 2009 and nobody was ready for that reality.”

Williams said one of his clients in 30032 ended up selling a property for half of the original asking price, after it had been on the market for well over a year. The sale price was $60,000, he said.

Competition with neighboring homes on the market and the overall economy drove the price down, Williams said.

“This is the difference between a buyers market and a sellers market,” he said.” In 2009 sellers were at the buyer’s mercy. You didn’t know when the next buyer would come along, so you had to seriously consider the offer in front of you.”

The trend was not exclusive to neighborhoods with low median prices. ZIP code 30075 covers areas of Fulton, Cobb and Cherokee counties but the quadrant in far northeast Cobb saw substantial slippage. Sales, which included 120 existing homes, improved by 23 percent but prices dropped 14 percent from $320,000 to $275,000.

While sellers seem to have been dealt a bad hand, buyers saw things very differently.

“I’m able to help many first-time buyers get amazing deals right now,” Williams said. “And it is all because sellers are having such a bad time.”

After the condo crash when Plantz decided to buy, he felt he had the best deal he could get for his money. “It was the best time for me to buy,” he said. “And I plan to be here for a while, so I’m hoping prices have nowhere to go but up.”

He has plenty of company.

5 worst ZIP codes

Largest median price decline.

Clayton30349▼62.81%

Fulton30337▼61.99%

Henry30294▼59.31%

DeKalb30083▼51.03%

Clayton30236▼47.82%

Largest decrease in home sales

Forsyth30004▼46.32%

Barrow30620▼38.99%

DeKalb30319▼36.22%Forsyth30024▼33.65%

DeKalb30306▼33.86%

Source: SmartNumbers

AJC Home Sales Report

Our annual look into metro Atlanta real estate includes neighborhood-by-neighborhood breakdowns of the number of houses sold, their median price and how that changed from 2008 to 2009. Find real estate data on even more areas online at bit.ly/AJChomesales.

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