The following charts show the month to month residential real estate sales volume of the Greater Athens Ga metropolitan area for the months of Dec 2009 through Jan 2011 . Sales volume of residential real estate has decreased 36 units in January after 2 months of increasing volume. The January decrease is a month to month drop of over 32% from Decembere 2010 but only an 8.5% drop in volume from Jan. 2010. Some analysts are suggesting that sever winter weather and storms are a major reason for this drop. In January, there was a major storm here that did affect travel and business for 3 - 7 days which probably contributed to the drop. There is often a seasonal decrease in volume from December to January.
Chart 1 shows the trends for both the number of residential units sold and the average number of Days on Market (D.O.M.) for residential units sold. Volume should increase in February if there are pent up sales that were deferred from January due to weather. There may also be a slight rise due to normal seasonal activity. The real story will be told as February and the rest of 2011 unfolds. The economy, which did appear to be stabilizing, might take another hit because of turmoil in the Middle East resulting in an increase in fuel prices.
Chart 1
The total number of residential units sold in Jan 2011 was 75 units, down from 111 in December 2010 . The average days on market did have an increase of 13 days, from 169 in December to 182 in January. This is the second consecutive month with an increase in D.O.M.
Athens - Clarke County, which had a decrease of 13 units. and Oglethorpe County, with a decrease of 9 units, had almost 2/3 of the volumet decrease. However, all counties in the area had a decrease in volume.
There are 180 residential properties under contract and pending closing in the area. Residential properties include single family homes, condos, townhomes, mobile homes and modular homes.
Chart 2
Chart 2 shows an increase in both the average and median sales prices over December. This breaks the 2 month price decline of November and December 2010. Sales prices going forward, both average and median, are also dependant upon the recovery of the economy and an increase in jobs and employment and are subject to the same risks from increasing fuel prices as sales volume is.
The Greater Athens Metropolitan area, for this report, includes Athens-Clarke County, Oconee County, Oglethorpe County, Jackson County and Madison County. All chart information is derived from data in the Athens Area Association of Realtors® multiple listing service (MLS).
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