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Year End Market Statistics For Atlanta
By Ryan Ward | January 22, 2008
The rest of this week I will be compiling and posting year end market statistics for the Atlanta real estate market with some analysis and a look ahead at 2008. At the end of 2007, it looked like we were beginning to see signs of new life in the market, but, as quickly as those signs appeared, they began to dissappear. The “R’ word has infiltrated most conversations about the economy and with a stimulus package that hasn’t made as much of a splash as many had hoped, we will watch the markets this week and see what impact is left on the real estate sector of the economy.
Recession is not eminent at this time (at least in my opinion), but, the FED will need to make some strong statements to head off what looks to be a turbulent week for the stock market. Often times, when the stock market isn’t doing so well, people move more of their assets into the real estate market and that has generally been a boost for real estate in the past.
This time around it might be somewhat different as people will not as eagerly move into the real estate sector with many question marks remaining. Few housing markets have completely withstood the slowdown and the Atlanta real estate market has been no exception. For now let’s just look at a chart from 2000 to the end of 2007 of home values. This is very much painting with a broad brush, but, it’s imporatant to look back and see what has happened. Some aspects of the Atlanta real estate market have not looked this bad since the tech crash in 1999 and with a cloud hovering over the overall economy, we will really need some force to move us back in a direction where consumers have enough confidence in something other than bonds to push us out of this quagmire.
This chart indicates cyclical prices of home values month to month and you can see that historically values peak during the summer months in Atlanta. Generally, values come down in the fall and then begin to rise again towards the end of the year. This is not what is happening now and from my experience in the field with buyers, they are not yet willing to pay more for what they are seeing availble in the market righht now and I do not expect to see values beginning to increase anytime soon.
Inventory is still far too high for seles to regain any leverage in this market. If a buyer doesn’t like your home, they will move on, under no pressure and find something better for them. I don’t blame them. It’s a wise decision and there is no pressure to hurry because homes aren’t selling fast enough to put any pressure on them to make a decision.
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