Dale Team Atlanta

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How’s the Market?

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said June 3, 2010

filed under: Featured Articles

The 2010 1Q stats are out and the news is mixed. After a 16.3% increase in sales during the 4th Q 2009 (largely attributable to the first tax incentive last fall), sales in the Atlanta area decreased 2.3% in the first quarter.

But if things have just felt better than that, you’re right – for particular areas, that is. In the Buckhead area, sales were up a stunning 38% from the same quarter last year. In Sandy Springs, sales actually doubled. (If you want the specifics for your neighborhood, just send me an email. I’d be glad to send them to you.)

Foreclosures continue to define and set the market. Overall, foreclosures were up, representing 32.8% of all sales. Think about that number. Roughly one out of every three homes that closed this past quarter was a foreclosure.

What’s interesting is that the <$200K market actually looks like it’s on the mend with foreclosures falling from 48.4% of all sales to 43.3%. The news is that the upper tier market is now getting hit by foreclosures. Although foreclosures represent only 14% of all sales, that percentage has more than tripled from a year ago.

These numbers make sense, if you think about it. A shift in the market almost always starts at the bottom and trickles up. The foreclosure tremors were felt first in the <$200K market. Those owners were likely the ones with the least amount of savings and equity to survive the storm. And as the recession drags on, the resources of the high-end owners are slowly being depleted, resulting in increasing numbers of foreclosures in the top markets.

When it comes to prices, there’s actually cheery news. The median sales price rose 8%, the first real gain in three years. Inventories are down as well. The biggest threats we now face are the foreclosures that the banks have taken back and not yet released to the market. If the banks decided to release them all at once, we could anticipate a steep drop in prices. But we’re counting on the banks not being that stupid.

Comments

One Response to “How’s the Market?”

  1. davenycity on September 15th, 2010 10:00 am

    great blog thank you

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