The Sky is Not Falling… BUY NOW and Hire A Great Agent…
Truly, if you read and listened to the media you might believe the sky is falling… and that real estate prices are as well. Here in Atlanta, our sustained job market, and other stabilizing factors such as diversity of industry, have been good things that have made it harder than other real estate markets to analyze. Thus, making it much more difficult for the average Real Estate agent to explain to their clients, the market they are in.
Here is what I have come to understand from the last year of market analysis, mostly through FMLS, training with top agents in the Country, and with being in the field and hearing what is going on with home builders in Atlanta - the hardest hit by our current market conditions.
Below are excerpts from the latest info released by the National Association of Realtors and the Federal Reserve Bank. It gives a bit of what happened in the Real Estate Industry last month in the Country. Which is probably good info, but is not terribly relative to Atlanta. It is like saying the average rainfall in June in America was 9.5 inches…
Maybe true but irrelevant to us here in Atlanta living through a drought.
Our real estate market here is more complicated. We have not reached a full blown Buyers Market, if so Steve Palm, of FMLS would not have written about the high number of “expired listings” 3 months in a row. Buyers would be making offers like crazy. Sellers are just not there yet. Many have great home loans, with low rates that they can not replicate when they move. Sellers that have moved are doing the math hanging on and paying double mortgages because they “financed” right. For the most part sellers may not need a wheel barrow to leave the closing table, but they also are not bringing funds.
Our clients that have bought and/or sold have done well and are making good financial decisions. With over 109K listings on the market the process is much more work for us. The good news is that we will move through the “sustained” market we are in as sellers become more motivated, based on their individual circumstances and increasing inventory. I do not believe that our pricing, sales and days on market will continue to be more neighborhood specific and that the builders and new construction is a long way from being over the pain of a sustained market. It is a great time to buy. Hire the right agent and NEGOTIATE!!!!
WASHINGTON - Sales of existing homes fell for a fourth straight month in June and even a small increase in home prices was not enough to lift the gloom surrounding the housing industry. reported that sales of existing homes dropped by 3.8 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million units, the slowest sales pace in 4½ years.
NAR says The median price of an existing home edged up slightly to $230,300 in June, a 0.1 percent increase from the sales price a year ago. That was the first year-over-year price increase in 11 months but analysts cautioned that it would take more months to determine whether the downward trend in prices has finally stabilized
The decline in home sales was larger than had been expected and served to underscore the problems in housing, which is currently in the worst slump in 16 years
FED says told Congress last week that he expected housing demand to stabilize and housing to be a less severe drag on growth in the coming months.
However, private economists said the existing home sales report raised serious questions about that assessment. They noted that existing home sales were falling at an annual rate of 28 percent in the second quarter, the steepest plunge so far in the downturn.
“Housing is contracting at an accelerating pace, taking out with a vengeance the brief stabilization at the turn of the year,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, a private forecasting firm.
The housing downturn is occurring after five boom years in which sales of both new and existing homes set records with home prices soaring by double-digit rates. However, starting in 2006, sales have slumped as mortgage rates rose and prospective buyers balked at the price levels they were seeing in many parts of the country.
Those problems have been exacerbated in recent months by spreading problems in the subprime mortgage market, which offered loans to buyers with spotty credit histories. Rising defaults in those areas are dumping more homes onto an already glutted market.
The sales declines covered all parts of the country. Sales were down 7.3 percent in the Northeast and 6.8 percent in the West. Sales fell 2.8 percent in the Midwest and 1.7 percent in the South.
The supply of unsold homes did drop by 4.2 percent in June to 4.2 million, which analysts said was a hopeful sign that the price declines may soon come to an end.
Lawrence Yun, senior economist for the Realtors, said that potential buyers have been getting mixed signals about whether now is a good time to buy a home with mortgage rates rising and banks and other lenders tightening their standards, making it harder to qualify for a loan.
“It appears that some buyers are looking for more signs of stability before they have enough confidence to make an offer,” Yun said.
The Realtors are forecasting that sales of existing homes will fall by 5.6 percent this year with prices dropping by 1.4 percent. That would mark the first annual price decline on record.
Debby Crawford
REALTOR®
Crawford Group Atlanta
Keller Williams Realty Peachtree Battle
2345 Peachtree Road, Suite A & B
Atlanta, GA 30305 | www.CrawfordGroupAtlanta.com
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