Recent news media reports have cited continued weakness in both national and metro Atlanta home prices, but lost in the talk about prices is the fact that the number of home sales in metro Atlanta is up from 2010, and, in some cases, up exponentially from 2009.
Metro Atlanta single family detached home sales through April 2011 are up 2.4% from 2010 and up 12.5% from 2009. For certain areas of Atlanta, the numbers are even more dramatic. In Buckhead for instance, sales are up 15.7% from 2010 and 67% from 2009. “Intown” Atlanta (Ansley Park, Midtown, Morningside, Virginia-Highland) sales are up 21.6% from 2010 and 41% from 2009.
Other areas of metro Atlanta posting noteworthy sales gains in 2011 are Alpharetta-East of GA-400 (up 5.3% vs. 2010, up 54.3% vs. 2009); Alpharetta-West/Milton/Roswell (up 31.5% vs. 2009); Cherokee County-Southeast (up 11.5% vs. 2010, up 28.5% vs. 2009); Dunwoody (up 58.5% vs. 2009); East Cobb/Marietta/Roswell (up 4.6% vs. 2010, up 66.7% vs. 2009); Sandy Springs (up 15.6% vs. 2010, up 44.4% vs. 2009) and Vinings (up 100% vs. 2010, up 133% vs. 2009).
Dac Carver, Vice President and Managing Broker for Beacham & Company, Realtors, said the reason prices continue to go down despite sales trending upward is that short sales and foreclosures are still at elevated levels. However, buyers, aided by an ever-so-slight easing of lending standards, are snapping up deals.
Carver said Beacham & Company set a company record for closings in May, beating the previous record set only two months earlier. In addition, sales for the single office firm of 54 agents based in Buckhead were up 89% in May compared to the same month a year ago. Company sales are up 27% for the year and the company’s market share is growing at a rate of 20%.
“We knew based on the information we had earlier in the year that prices would get softer,” Carver said. “We shared that with our sellers and got prices adjusted accordingly. It was not a pleasant story to tell, but we did the right thing for our clients. This spring, almost 15% of our new listings went under contract within the first two weeks of being listed because they were priced right for the market.”
About Beacham & Company, Realtors
Beacham & Company, Realtors is a residential real estate firm that was founded in 2006 by Glennis Beacham, the top agent for more than a decade at one of Atlanta’s largest and oldest real estate companies. Since its founding, Beacham & Company has been the top selling office in Buckhead by dollar volume of listings sold and has maintained the most productive agent team in metro Atlanta by dollar volume sold. For more information about Beacham & Company, visit www.beacham.com or call 404.261.6300.