BY THE NUMBERS
April 2013 (year-to-year)
Average sales price: $69,157 vs. $47,948 (2012), up 44.2 percent
New foreclosures: 29 vs. 116 (April 2012), down 75 percent
New listings: 320 vs. 342 (2012), down 17.3 percent
(Indicates there are more buyers than properties)
Active listings: 927 vs. 1,396 ( 2012), down 33.6 percent
Average days on market: 69 days, down 24.25 percent
From Jan. 1 to May 8, 2013
Average sales price for listings: $96,203
Average price for listings that have sold: $61,634
Properties currently on the market: 596
Sales since January: 785
Average days on market prior to sale: 61 days
Inventory supply: 3.2 months
Source: Metro South Association of Realtors
Clayton unemployment at a glance
In March 2013:
Total civilian workforce in Clayton: 130,349
Total Clayton residents who were working: 117,499
Total unemployed Clayton residents who were looking for work: 12,850
Clayton unemployment rate
March 2013*: 9.9 percent
February 2013: 10.2 percent
January 2013: 10.9 percent
December 2012: 10.6 percent
November 2012: 10.3 percent
October 2012: 10.8 percent
September 2012: 10.6 percent
August 2012: 11.3 percent
July 2012: 11.8 percent
June 2012: 11.6 percent
May 2012: 10.9 percent
April 2012: 10.5 percent
March 2012: 11 percent
February 2012: 11.7 percent
January 2012: 11.9 percent
December 2008: 9.4 percent
* Latest available monthly data
Source: Georgia Department of Labor
Clayton housing at a glance
Hot spots: Ellenwood, Lovejoy and Hampton
Hottest ZIP code: 30238 (Jonesboro) based on total number of closings, 855 for the 12-month period ending March 31.
Source: Metrostudy and area real estate agents and Realtors
Skeptics still not convinced the housing market has turned the corner need only ride through what was once considered the epicenter of metro Atlanta’s housing crisis.
Individual homebuyers are crowding into Clayton County, where there’s a bidding war for properties. A year ago you couldn’t give away homes to individual homebuyers, who steered clear of the county because of its school accreditation problems, high unemployment and perceived high crime. Investors looking for deep-discounts to turn into rentals seemed to be the only ones venturing into the county then. They snapped up properties, often getting two homes for the price of one.
Not anymore.
The stockpile of foreclosures in Clayton has dwindled precipitously. Inventories of available housing have fallen sharply, just as they have in the rest of metro Atlanta, causing a spike in home prices.
The county’s jobless rate also has dropped to single digits for the first time in nearly four and a half years. The school district just got the green light for districtwide accreditation, and people are blowing past what they consider to be misconceptions about the county’s crime and bidding as much as $30,000 over the asking price on some homes.
It’s not uncommon now for a Clayton house to come onto the market and have two to three offers within two days, real estate agents said. In many cases, they said, buyers are placing bids without having seen the property. And as rents in the county rise and mortgage rates hit record lows, some would-be renters are becoming homeowners instead.
“We are seeing an ongoing market recovery, and in this market we’re experiencing increased sales prices, tightened inventory and high consumer demand,” said Brianne Drake, president of the Metro South Association of Realtors, a group of more than 700 members who serve Clayton, Henry and Butts counties. “It’s truly a seller’s market.”
The resurgence doesn’t mean Clayton’s problems are over.
Home values here still lag behind the rest of the region, and many Clayton homeowners are still underwater, meaning they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Georgia accounted for nearly a quarter of the worst 1 percent of ZIP codes nationwide in terms of percentage of mortgage holders who were underwater, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of nationwide data compiled at the end of last year by Zillow. Most of those ZIP codes were in the southern end of metro Atlanta. The metro area has a dozen counties where at least half the mortgages are underwater, and Clayton is one of them.
There are other negatives: Investors still turn a lot of what they buy into rentals; appraisals in Clayton don’t reflect what many in real estate say they should; and while Clayton’s housing stock has shrunk like the rest of metro Atlanta’s, it’s not seeing nearly the renewed homebuilding that neighboring Fayette and Henry counties are.
But those challenges haven’t scared off people like Jazmine McDaniel.
“People have kind of built this image of Clayton as being this county of lower socioeconomic status. I don’t see Clayton like that,” said McDaniel, a 23-year-old teacher who lives and works in Henry but grew up in Clayton and wants to buy her first house there. “I see Clayton rebuilding itself. I see a lot of people going in and cleaning up the houses and the properties.”
McDaniel started house-hunting informally last June but stopped in order to build a solid credit history. She relaunched her search late last year and has since been in a bare-knuckles brawl for her dream home.
“It’s a battle,” said McDaniel, who has toured more than two dozen homes in Clayton and Henry in the past six months and bid on seven properties. “It’s a game of high hopes.”
McDaniel recently bid $1,000 above the asking price for a 14-year-old, owner-occupied home in Riverdale. Accompanying her $116,000 offer? A cover letter in which she tells the sellers she’s a young, first-time buyer with goals and a master’s degree.
“It’s move-in ready. Hardwoods. A very nice property. It’s clean. I wouldn’t have to do anything but move my things in,” McDaniel said of the two-story, four-bedroom house.
If that falls through? “Any bid I put in from here on out will be at least $1,000 (over the asking price),” McDaniel said.
An assortment of recent data show Clayton County’s housing picture is clearly improving:
— Inventory. Clayton housing stock is low, hovering around three month's worth of inventory, and the number of foreclosures has dropped, according to the Metro South Association of Realtors. Take the month of April, for instance. In April 2012, there were 116 foreclosures. Last month, there were 29, a 75 percent drop. In April 2012, there were 1,396 active listings, and this past April, there were 927. That's a 33.6 percent drop in housing inventory.
— Sales prices. The median price of resale and foreclosed houses is about $50,000 now. A year ago, it was $38,000.
— Home starts. Clayton had a total of 17 housing starts for the first quarter of this year. There were only four for the same period a year ago, according to Metrostudy, an Atlanta-based real estate analysis firm.
— Time on the market. Homes in Clayton appear to be selling at a faster clip than in the rest of metro Atlanta in general. The average time a house in metro Atlanta is on the market is 79 days, according to the latest data from the Atlanta Board of Realtors. In Clayton, it's 69 days.
This round of Clayton homebuyers includes people who waited out the recession by bunking with family and friends and those who were swept away in the wave of foreclosures.
“Buyers who lost their property in foreclosure a couple of years ago now are coming back on the market with their credit reconditioned, and they’re in a position where they can purchase a home,” said David Barton, Morrow-based managing broker at Academy Properties, a real estate firm that serves the Southside.
Today’s prospective Clayton homebuyers seem a lot more leery of houses well above their means, instead preferring entry-level homes or slightly above.
“Lessons learned from the recession,” Barton said.
They’re also recognizing deals they’re not likely to see in other parts of metro Atlanta. Barton recalled renters who recently purchased the home they’re living in for $150,000 because they didn’t want it sold out from under them. The home is easily worth more than $200,000, Barton said.
Moreover, one of the negatives of Clayton's housing market — namely appraisals — does not always translate into a deal-breaker. For instance, a home in Ellenwood that is the same style as a home in nearby Henry or DeKalb counties will sell and appraise for less. A buyer from Florida recently paid $54,000 for a house appraised at $40,000 because he felt it was a good deal. And real estate agents said they had clients who were intent on buying in Henry, but who instead bought in Clayton once they saw the offerings.
“There’s a biased perception against Clayton,” Barton said. “But I’m seeing activity still in Clayton. It’s just not on a grand scale of the prices Clayton deserves. It’s getting better as the months go by.”
Drake, the Metro South Association of Realtors president, said many of her clients have put in multiple offers “only to be outbid by sometimes $20,000 and $30,000 over the asking price.”
“We’re in a market recovery,” she said.
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