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ATLANTA REAL ESTATE MARKET - JUNE 2011 vs JUNE 2010

Real Estate Agent with Berkshire Hathaway GA Prop

July 20, 2011 03:58 AM

ATLANTA REAL ESTATE MARKET REPORT
(JUNE 2011)

Despite what you may be feeling, economists are beginning to paint a rosey picture for the housing market. Freddie Mac expects housing sales to out pace 2010 homes sales by 3 to 5%. I would say sales the first half of 2011 do appear to be steady, but when you start looking at the average sales price.....ah! Not so much to get excited about. Gwinnett County average sales price was down 21% from one year ago while neighboring Fulton County was up 7%. Home sales are predicted to continue on the up tick through 2012 although mortgage rates will continue to keep the pace a bit shaky rising to a projected 5.5% by the end of 2011 and 6% in 2012.

Source:
"Housing and Economic Forecast Points to Rising Activity" Realtor.org (May, 2011 by Walter Molony)
"Housing Market Expected to Follow Overall Economy" Realtor.org (Krista Franks July 18, 2011)

NUMBER OF HOMES
SINGLE FAMILY DETACHED
June 2010 - June 2011
(Data: FMLS)

The number of homes on the market in June 2011 is down 17% over last year; but homes pending is up 56% so one could surmise that inventory levels are leveling out while buyers are taking advantage of pricing and interest rates.

AVERAGE PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT
Single Family Detached
June 2010 through June 2011
(Data from FMLS)

The Atlanta housing market has been removed from the "depressed" market category by most lenders. However, there are still some areas of Atlanta that are still considered declining and this does have an impact in loan down payment requirements. It is important to know before you buy if you are looking in a depressed area or not. Once again you can see the average price per square foot for the month of June is down 5% over one year ago. However, what IS exciting, looking at this graph, is the Atlanta market has been trending upward since the first of the year. We are up 14% since January of this year.

AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET
SALES PRICE vs ORIGINAL LIST PRICE
Single Family Detached Homes
June 2010 through June 2011
(Data from FMLS)

WOW! You can't help but like these numbers. The average days on market for June 2011 is down 27% from one year ago. That is very happy news for any home owner trying to sell. Couple that with the fact that although we are not where we once were, the list to sale price has held fairly steady compared to one year ago at 89% sale to ORIGINAL list price. There was a slight tick downward towards the end of 2010 but overall you can see stabilization taking place.

MONTHS of INVENTORY
Single Family Detached Homes
June 2010 through June 2011
(Date from FMLS)

The stabilizing of inventory levels will continue to help home values but not enough to give any of us the green light indicating a full blown housing recovery. With uncertainty in the economy, high gas prices and...for Atlanta continued high unemployment, it is difficult to see much improvement. Until many of the economic indicators start to improve, it is my opinion we won't have much to get excited about in our local housing market...EXCEPT the INTEREST RATES!