Atlanta Real Estate January 2009.
Atlanta FMLS statistics were just released today, and it does not paint a good picture for Atlanta real estate. I debatedp osting this, but felt it is the right thing to do. For buyers there are plenty of great opportunities, and for realistic sellers there is hope if your home is priced correctly, has been well maintained, has upgrades, and is in turn key move in condition.
In January 2009 there were 2,520 closings for all single family which is a 24.3% drop from January 2008. The last time in Atlanta that we had so few closings we would have to go back to January 1999. The FMLS reported that with prices dropping back to late 1990 levels in almost all classes of real estate properties...is that we are not witnessing a price correction but a collapse.
At a glance:
- 2,220 closings single family detached in January - a reduction of 22.1% from Jan 08'
- 300 closings for single family attached in January - a decline of 37.6% from Jan 08'
- 6,511 expired listings for all single family in January.
- 2,404 Withdrawn listings also declined year-to-year for all single family.
- Average sale price for all single family closings in January was $181,799. Feb. 1999 was the last time we saw a lower average sales price. Jan 09' average price is also $90,000 below the all-time high from June 2007.
- Average sale price for single family detached was $185,294 in Jan 09 - 23.5% below Jan 07' and 35% below the all-time high, and 19.4% below 08's average.
- Average sale price for single family attached (condos & townhomes) was $155,936 in Jan 09‘which is $25,000 less than Jan 08' and $46,000 below the all-time high.
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Hey, great post. Thanks for the information about your area.
Charlotte Real Estate Agent Brian Belcher (RE/MAX Metro Realty) Any time. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Jim ~ All the more reason to carefully watch your expenses and cost of doing business. Interesting... while the market is certainly still adjusting, many of the large franchise real estate offices have not passed on any cost saving measures to their agents. How can agents continue to pay high rent and/or give away commissions to agencies that offer very little in return. I suspect we will see a "thinning of the herd" with this market. The bigger the office, the harder it may fall.
Melinda Peterson Broker Realtor® Southern Oregon Real Estate (Real Estate Cafe') You made a very good observation. Well most will not to stay on in the high rent offices. Agents and brokers both will be hard pressed to survive this market. These numbers point out the market is not improving, and the bottom may not be in sight for a while to come. This is a synopsis of the statistics, the breakdown of the numbers were much more sobering than this.
Jim they keep predicting a slowdown in price depreciation. I guess a slowdown from 23% to 19% is what they are talking about.
Just got back from an Atlanta area auction and it was not uncommon to find homes selling for 45% of "2 years ago values" requiring just ~4% of purchase price worth of repairs to make like new. Six months ago they were selling at ~55% ... Noticing apartment complexes running the free and reduced rent specials like after 911 when Greespan lowered rates. Hang on, as the number of foreclosures are accelerating and you know what that means for home prices in 6 months when they hit the market! We are only half way through the mortgage mess....
Jim,
That's good info about your area, thank you for sharing. Johnathan
John W Walters Slidell LA Homes for Sale Slidell Louisiana Homes (7824 Real Estate of Louisiana,LLC) I do not see much of a slow down, more of an acceleration if you ask me.
Phil - it is a real mess. You think we are half way through this?
Johnathan Mullaney (Village Land Shoppe) Anytime.
Jim - thanks for posting this information. I had 2 listings a year to a year and a half ago priced well at $899K - and the builders let them go into foreclosure...now they are around the $500K mark. Beautiful homes up for grabs, and still no one has the means to grab them.
Susan
Susan Cunningham* r.e.VISION ~ Suwanee,GA (NE Atlanta Home Staging) Our area has loads of challenges. I believe the upper end has not really been hit yet. The resets in the Alt-A's start to occur in April. Alt-A is a much bigger problem then sub-prime.