North Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains Real Estate Market Update April 2010 Sales

North Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains Real Estate Market Update  

Georgia Real Estate |  North Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains Homes  for sale

Highlights of the housing market on national and local level in April 2010 as reported in early May 2010

National Level
Housing market has likely bottomed but may see another 5% housing decline
Banks are discounting foreclosed properties to move them off the books
Prices are acutely tied to how distress sales move through the system
The markdown has doubled since the beginning of the housing bust

Consumers want to know, "Have we hit bottom yet?"  The sense is, not quite yet.  We may still have a little ways to go.  There's a lot of pent up inventory and the demand for homes, especially land does not equal the amount on the market so we are still seeing declines along with more foreclosures still to come.

National Association of Realtors reported in their mid year meeting in Washington on May 11 that a growing number of metro areas are beginning to experience price gains compared to a year ago, specifically markets in Florida and California.  The tax credit artifically boosted some numbers but 44 states and the District of Columbia reported sales increases compared to one year ago.

Consumer confidence is still creeping upward but the index reported was prior to global concerns that occurred recently.

North Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains Local Market
Includes six counties with the bulk of the acitivty in Fannin, Gilmer and Union counties
Approximately 12000 properties for sale
3700 residential homes
8000 pieces of land
559 foreclosures (one element of distressed properties) and another element is short sales - no data available on the number of short sales at this time

Distressed sales continue to sell at a faster rate.  65 of 123 residential sales in April 2010 were foreclosures.  Only 1/10 of 1% of all land is selling.  For lots up to 3 acres sold at an average sales price of $29,703 which is 55% of the owner's original list price.  Lots that sold in April were discounted 45% and we expect land sales to creep a bit lower.

Residential Sales
Sweet spot for pricing remains in the $100k to $200k price range
$1 - $100k = 22 (20% of all homes sold)
$100 - $200k = 42 (39.6% of all homes sold)
$200k - $300k = 32 (30% of all homes sold)
$300k - $400k = 8  (7.5% of total sales)
$500k  up = 2  (1.9% of total sales)
Over 500k - no sales

It's interesting to note that in my local market, we would have been very hard pressed to find homes even priced below $100k just a few years ago.  Also, there are some very nice luxury, lakefront homes priced well below $1mil which was not the case in recent years.  Coldwell Banker High Country Realty has a number of great properties for sale in our Buyer Bonus Program which runs until July  31st.  This is a fantastic time for buyers to get up to $8000 as a credit paid at closing. 

Call Donna Yates with Coldwell Banker High Country Realty at 706-633-0644 cell or 706-632-7311 x252 or email donna@ellijay.com for more indepth market information or listings of foreclosures, short sales, owner finance, resales new construction, land and mini-farms.  Please visit  http://www.move2northgeorgia.net/  and North Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains Real Estate on Facebook.

If you are thinking of buying or selling in North Georgia, I would love to hear from you.

Local market information supplied by Northeast Georgia MLS for April 2010 Posted by  Foreclosures in Blue Ridge, Georgia Homes for sale, North Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains Real Estate, North Georgia MLS listings