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Dothan area absorption rates

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with CENTURY 21 Key Realty

This article was originally posted on DothanHomeSearch.com

We have discussed absorption rates in previous posts, but always from the view of the overall Dothan area real estate market. Today we're going to look at some different areas of the overall market, specifically the different areas defined by the Dothan MLS.

First, a brief explanation of the MLS areas is in order. The layout of Dothan lends itself to being easily divided out into geographical areas. The major north-south highway is US 231/431, while traveling on US 84 (Main Street) gets you from east to west. Dothan is circled by Alabama Hwy 210, or as it is better known to us here locally, Ross Clark Circle (and hereafter referred to as The Circle).

Using Main Street (Hwy 84) as the north-south line and Hwy 231/431 as the east-west dividing line, Dothan is divided into four quadrants, with The Circle used to break the quadrants down into nice, bite size chunks. I have included a map below to help give you a visual (Note: Google doesn't show county lines, so I have attempted to end the drawn lines at the approximate county line).


View Larger Map

The Dothan MLS defines these areas by number.

Dothan MLS areas

  • 1- NE inside the Circle
  • 2- NE outside the Circle and inside the Dothan city limits
  • 3- SE inside the Circle
  • 4- SE outside the Circle and inside the Dothan city limits
  • 5- SW inside the Circle
  • 6- SW outside the Circle and inside the Dothan city limits
  • 7- NW inside the Circle
  • 8- NW outside the Circle and inside the Dothan city limits

Once outside of the city limits of Dothan, Houston County is also split into four quadrants, with the same highways serving as dividing lines.

  • 9a- Houston County NE - Hwy 431N to Hwy 84E
  • 9b- Houston County NW - Hwy 84W to Hwy 431N
  • 9c- Houston County SE - Hwy 84E to Hwy 231S
  • 9d- Houston County SW - Hwy 231S to Hwy 84W

Any property listed outside of Houston County in the Dothan MLS is listed by county.

Now, if you are still awake after that long and drawn out explanation of MLS areas, we'll look at the absorption rates for each of the 12 MLS areas in Houston County. I do not include data for counties other than Houston because some of these areas are served by different multiple listing services. Why that is the case is a post for another day.

A couple of things stick out. First, these numbers are fairly low compared to the market average of nine and a half months. The surrounding counties must be bringing the average up. Second, I am somewhat surprised how well the more rural areas of Houston County (MLS areas 9a, 9c, and 9d) are selling, given the cost of gas. I guess a 20-minute plus drive to Dothan has not become a concern at this point.

If you have a question about any of this information, please don't hesitate to leave a comment below. I will try to answer you as soon as possible, usually within a few hours.

We'll have the latest new construction report up on Monday.

Comments (2)

Anonymous
Joe Peters

Great presentation on this subject.

I use these statistics with both my buyers and sellers.

You can review my post on this subject at: http://activerain.com/blogs/jpeters

Jul 05, 2008 11:48 PM
#1
Laura Warden Nordin
Century 21 Camco Realty - Albuquerque, NM
30-year Top Producer in Greater ABQ Real Estate

This is really informative. Makes it clear what's going on even to folks outside your area

Jul 24, 2008 12:22 PM