MLS Moments: Atlanta Real Estate Market Review

MLS Moments: Atlanta Real Estate Market Review March 23

This week’s Atlanta real estate market review is based on last week’s MLS Moments. On March 17, Atlanta mls listings for sale numbered 7,356. I recorded 771 pending sales, and 788 North Atlanta homes sold through mls cooperating brokers.

In that same MLS Moment, I spent quite a bit of time looking at mls statistics by price range. But, it was very late at night - or I should say early in the morning - and my brain simply couldn’t wrap itself around the market data. So, I held off until tonight.

NOTE: All price ranges are in thousands. Pending sales are houses under contract. DOM is the average days on market. All findings are based on mls listing data, deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. These stats are compiled by Kathy and not First Multiple Listing Service (FMLS) or Georgia Metro Listing Service (GAMLS).

	For Sale	Pending	Sold	DOM
<100	27	9	8	79
100-200	908	180	195	84
200-300	1674	249	217	87
300-500	1986	176	215	92
500-750	1178	79	89	101
750-1000	681	43	29	129
1000+	902	35	35	223
TOTAL	7356	771	788	94

Review our self-defined North Atlanta geographic zone by clicking here.

The chart tells us right away more than half (53%) of North Atlanta buyers are looking to buy a house priced less than $300,000. (This trend was first noted in our 2006 North Atlanta Real Estate Review with 58% for the same market area, and held true in 2007.)

The number of houses for sale priced less than $300,000 is only 35% of the North Atlanta houses for sale. If you have a house to sell valued at $300,000 or below, now is the time to sell. Call me; let’s talk about getting your house sold before school is out.

Now let’s look at the number of North Atlanta houses for sale in comparison to the number of houses that have sold, or absorption rate. What we are calculating is the time, in months, it will take to absorb the current number of houses on the market based on year-to-date closings. We are going to refer to this rate as the Current Market Index (CMI).

PRICE RANGE	CMI
<$100,000	6.75
$100-200,000	9.31
$200-300,000	15.43
$300-500,000	18.48
$500-750,000	26.47
$750,000-1M	46.97
$1M+	51.54

As you can see, there is more supply than demand in all price ranges. I anticipate a positive change in the CMI for Atlanta houses priced under $300,000 as we move into the spring market.

My prediction for the higher priced homes is not positive. Even with 4-years of existing inventory on the market, I see builders continuing to build homes priced $800,000 and above.

If you want to follow the weekly trends, subscribe to MLS Moments.

Skip Two Mortgage Payments When You Refi!

The promise of not having to write a check for your mortgage payment for two months seems so tempting that many home owners chomp on the bit when a Loan Originator dangles that bait to lure in a refi candidate. 

The truth is you're not skipping anything. Rhonda Porter, a top producer at Mortgage Master Service Corporation helps us take a better look.

Home Owner’s Associations: The Good, the Bad the Ugly

HOA Takes Leave of Absence Senses

Photo credit: Larry Cragun

Have you ever served as a member of a Homeowner’s Association Architectural Review Committee? How did you screen for taste?

MLS Moments: Atlanta Real Estate Market Review

MLS Moments: Atlanta Real Estate Market Review March 17, 2008

We closed out the North Atlanta February 2008 real estate market stats with tonight’s update. The greatest majority of closed sales for North Atlanta have been reported to the multiple listing services (mls); any late reports will be included in year-to-date reports.

The mls listing data (compiled by me, not the mls) year-to-date reports the current number of houses for sale in the defined North Atlanta geographic area. Properties that have sold and pending closing are also year-to-date. The other stats close out the month of February. (NOTE: the directional changes relate to our last report on the same markers).

• 7356 active mls listings UP
• 771 are “under contract” pending closing DOWN
• 788 sold and closed UP
• $377,198 average sales price DOWN
• 94 average days on market. DOWN

The number of houses sold and closed in 2008 (through February) are down 40% from the same period in 2007. Average sold prices are not markedly different - up 5% from the same 2007 period.

Let’s look at a couple of numbers to learn if the Atlanta real estate market is improving.

The percentage of homes sold and closed in North Atlanta are up 37% (574:788) from our first report just two weeks ago. In comparison, the number of houses listed for sale in the First Multiple Listing Service (FMLS) increased from 7062 to 7356, only 4% in two weeks. At first glance, it seems that closings are out pacing the existing inventory.

Next week, we will examine the absorption rate - the supply and demand - across different prices ranges.

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