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Metro Atlanta's
Real Estate Update for April 2003.
Good news for 2003, single family detached
closings had their first monthly increase over a prior year
period. After we saw declines in January, February, and March, April will be
positive. At the time we “cut
off” there were 20 fewer closings in 2003 than in April 2002, but after
lagged closings are reported, it will be
a positive month.
Condos and townhomes did not fare as well. They reported a 12.9% decrease
for April. Through the first
four months in 2003, condos and townhomes are down 12.2%. It should also be
noted that condos and
townhomes are only about 11% of the single family market. Overall, all
single family closings were down
1.9% in April and should be “flat” after lagged closings are reported.
We knew if the market remained slow, prices would be under pressure, and
this has definitely happened so
far into 2003. For the first time since records have been kept, the average
sale price for condos and
townhomes declined from March to April. The attached chart illustrates this
trend very well, as the average
price in March was $184,715 and in April it was $178,487. In 2002, the
average price increased from
$173M to $182M and in 2001 it increased from $164M to $175M.
The average sale price through April for single family is $218,615 or down
0.07% from 2002’s average. In
previous years, the average price has been higher through the first four
months versus the previous year’s
average. As inventories rise and closings remain down or flat, there will be
continued pressure on prices.
Days on market for single family was at 79 in April or up 4.6 from the same
year ago period. We found over
1,000 closings that had been previously listed and when the additional time
is added the average goes up
significantly. Condos and townhomes had a DOM of 88.3 through April 2003,
but the total DOM was
actually 147.7. Single family detached had a DOM of 81.9 through April 2003,
but the total was actually
118.8.
There were 3,472 expired single family listings and 1,276 withdrawn listings
in April. Both were April
record highs. Even though April was “flat” for closings, we still have more
new listings than closings each
month and in turn more stagnant listings and rising inventories.
We have been providing the total days on market for about two years now and
we have seen the number of
closings each month that were previously listed go from a few hundred to
over a thousand. This shows that
many listings have been re-listed and usually with another company. In a
down market, the realtor usually
gets blamed for not getting a home sold and not the market conditions.
Taking this into account, agents can
use the attached reporting to price homes more effectively, better explain
market conditions, and most
importantly get, retain, and sell their listings.
Thank you,
Steve Palm
Smart Numbers |
April
2003
