Overpriced houses are sitting longer, while competitively priced homes are getting over asking price and spending significantly fewer days on the market across metro Atlanta.
Dorsey Alston compared the month-to-month data from May 2020 to May 2021 and found the number of days a home for sale stays on the market is down steeply — 42% across the board. That number — which dropped from 30 days down to 13 in East Cobb — is linked to houses that are listed closer to the average sales price in the respective submarkets.
The number of closings is way up comparatively, owing to the fact in May of 2020, sellers were beginning to recover from the shock of the April COVID shutdown.
North Fulton — Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton — experienced the most significant leap in terms of the average sales price, which climbed to $643,566 from $504,782 a year ago. The number of sales jumped 39%, from 330 to 460.
Similarly, East Cobb saw a 25% jump in closed sales price, a nearly $100,000 increase on average, from $383,198 to $480,814. The days on the market plummeted 56%, while the number of sales nearly doubled, from 219 to 367.
The average sales price for a home in Buckhead was $747,425, followed by Sandy Springs ($668,900 – up 16%), North Fulton ($643,566 – up 27%), and Brookhaven/Dunwoody (($616,117 – up 18%).
Buckhead saw a slight increase in the number of listings, and a huge 119% increase in the number of closed sales. Homes in the north Atlanta enclave spent longer on the market compared to other areas, which could be related to the fact the average listing price in May was $895,472, nearly $150,000 above the average sales price.
The number of new listings in Intown Atlanta dropped 14%, while the number of closed sales increased 123%, from 99 last May to 221 this May, with the average sales price up 9%, and the average number of days on the market down slightly to 36 from 42 days.
Sandy Springs home prices increased 16% compared to this time last year, while the average number of days on the market fell to 27 from 47. The number of sales increased 100%, from 77 to 154.
Brookhaven/Dunwoody, which were run together for this blog post, also had a significant uptick in closed sales, up to 271 from 156, while the average closed price was up 18%, from $520,519 to $616,117.
The overall number of new listings was down 5% from May 2020. With more modest increases in closed home prices, it would appear the market is in good shape for the foreseeable future.
