Oconee County Ga 2010 Residential Real Estate Year in Review

What happenned in 2010? 2010 was a challenging year for real estate across the country. While Oconee County Ga did not escape those challenges the presence of the University of Georgia in neighboring Athens and an unemployment rate that remained below both the state and national averages (often the lowest in the state of Georgia) kept the real estate market a little bit more stable than in many areas of the country as well as Georgia.

The numbers: Chart 1, below, shows how the 2010 residential real estate market faired against the 2009 market as far as total sales and Days on Market. In 2009, there were 322 residental units sold. In 2010 that number decreased by just under 5.3% to 302 units. During the same period the percentage of sales that were foreclosure property sales  increase slightly. In 2009 there were 66 foreclosure sales, or just about 20.5% of the total sales volume. In 2010 there were 72 foreclosure saless or just over 23.8% of the total sales volume. The positive news is that in Oconee County Go "organic" resales are still a large part of the real estate market.  In 2011 foreclosures and short sales will more than likely make up they same or higher percentage of the total sales volume. Those wanting to sell their homes for reasons other than foreclosure or short sale will need to differentiate their homes in order to obtain a higher price.

The average time to sell a residential property (Days on Market, D.O.M.) , in Oconee County Ga decreased almost 13% from 228 in 2009 days to 199 days in 2010. Oconee County Ga does remain with the highest average Days on Market, before a sale, in the Greater Athens GA metropolitan area.

Chart 1

Chart 2 below shows the direction of both average and median sales prices in Oconee County Ga. The average sales price declined just over 9% from $282,887.00 to $287,153.00. The median price declined just slightly more than 4% from $239,700.00 in 2009 to $230,000.00 in 2010. The decline in both median and average prices were almost certainly driven by the combination of the increased percentage of foreclosures along with the number of first time buyers trying to take advantage of the federal income tax credit during the first six months of last year.

Chart 2

What does 2011 hold? 2011 will probably be almost as challenging as 2010 was. Foreclosures and short sales are expected to become a larger part of the market. Prices are expected to suffer some decrease, at least during the first 6 months of the year. The forecast is for prices to stabilize during the second half of the year. This will really be dependant upon how the economy fairs, especially in regard to unemployment.

For those that want, or need, to sell their homes for reasons other than foreclosure, the good news is that, as the numbers for 2010 indicate, "organic" sales of homes are still happenning and strong in the Oconee County GA market. However, they need to be both priced competitively and in a condition considerably better than foreclosure or short sale properties in order to get that higher price.

All chart information is derived from data in the Athens Area Association of Realtors® multiple listing service (MLS). For more information about real estate in or around Oconee County Ga please contact me.