Archive for the 'Local Market Conditions' Category
The BIG Number: July
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Local Market Conditions, Milton Real Estate, Roswell Real Estate, The Big Number
20%
The percentage increase in sales of existing homes in North Fulton County for Q2 2010 vs Q2 2009.
On the last day of each month I post a “Big Number” or interesting figure related to real estate in our area.
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The BIG Number: June
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Crabapple, Local Market Conditions, Lots, Milton Real Estate, Roswell Real Estate, The Big Number
6
The number of developed lots in all of North Fulton that are under contract. That is out of a total of 205 available lots. Opportunity is knocking…
On the last day of each month I post a "Big Number" or interesting figure related to real estate in our area.
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Real Estate Sales Data in North Fulton - It’s Like the Weather
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Local Market Conditions, Metro Atlanta Statistics, Milton Real Estate, Roswell Real Estate, Schools
Just wait a while and it will change….The question is "What does it mean?"
I’m just trying to stay as away of the trends in our area as I possible can. I wrote a post last month about the average sales price for homes in North Fulton West going up. I compared the sales for March 2009 to March 2010. Subsequently I reported on an AJC article regarding 4 zip codes in metro Atlanta that have had year-over-year increases in Sales Prices - 30004 was one of those zip codes.
I wasn’t ready to declare "mission accomplished", we have a long road out. But…there was a nice trend shaping up. Little things point to larger things. The tax credit increased sales numbers and, despite our school systems financial woes, our schools and quality of life continue to help demand for housing in North Atlanta. All the dots are forming a nice picture. Then I pull the year-over year numbers for North Fulton in May:
The Good News
We are selling more properties than a year ago. Considerably more in North Fulton East of 400 - thank you tax credit. The tax credit put buyers in the market that not only freed up sellers to move-up locally, but relo traffic into North Atlanta has increased as well. Also, homes are selling faster on average than last year.
The not-so-good news
Needless to say I wasn’t expecting to see a decrease in the average sales price year-over-year. So, I took a look at a chart showing the average sales price for residential detached homes in Metro Atlanta for the past 10 years. 2010 is only current in this chart to April. What I noticed is a dip in the average sales price every April or May. Usually in April but it occurred in May of 01′ and 05′.
Why? To be honest, I have no idea. It’s a strange fluctuation that happens fairly consistently each April or May, but I don’t know why. In three of the past 10 years there was no dip (03′, 06′ and 09′). So does that mean we aren’t on track? Are we still improving? I think the the answer is that the the little things still point to bigger things. The direction is positive but the trip will take a while. It’s too soon to ask "Are we there yet".
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Alpharetta / Milton Sales Prices Increase: Where’s The Celebration?
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Local Market Conditions, Metro Atlanta Statistics, Milton Real Estate
It’s great news, but somehow it doesn’t seem to be resonating with people. The AJC reported this weekend that the average sales price in zip code 30004 increased year-over-year. I reported similar data on a recent post, showing that the average sales price in North Fulton West of 400 increased 2.2% in March ‘10 over March ‘09. I’ve asked a few people about this and the response is the same. They yawn and say, “Wow, that’s great”.
The market here in Alpharetta / Milton has certainly stabilized. Zip code 30004 made the number 2 position in the top 4 Metro Atlanta zip codes for year-over-year increases. Griffin, in Spalding County (30223) saw a 3.35% increase, followed by Alpharetta / Milton’s (30004) 2.48% rise. Smyrna (30080) came in at 2.25% and Suwanee in Forsyth County (30024) rounded out the top 4 at 1.16%
This data confirms that our market has turned the corner, but we’ve been seeing other signs of this for a few months now. Things are loosening up in other markets, allowing home sellers elsewhere to become buyers here. Some of those buyers took a ‘hit’ on the sale of their homes and are coming here looking to do the same. What they are finding is that in areas like North Atlanta, where good schools and quality of life create demand and price increases, they can’t get what they perceive is a good deal.
There are plenty of places around Metro Atlanta where you can still negotiate hard and get something for pennies on the dollar. But if you are narrowing your search to a specific city, or certain schools, then the general market conditions for the Metro area no longer may apply.
Sellers here have long since adjusted their sales prices and for the most part, homes on the market in this area are priced correctly. Sellers are negotiating but not selling for 85% of asking price. In fact, many are getting close to 95% of current asking prices - but keep in mind these prices are off of the 2006 highs by about 18%. We are still far from a sellers market and buyers do have a lot to choose from, however, the homes that are in great shape and priced right are selling quickly. Buyers who don’t realize this end up missing out.
So with this good news there should be more cheering out there. Maybe the psyche of sellers and buyers are lagging the data. But rest assured, as we continue to get good economic data on our market, housing will continue to get more and more competitive in areas like the top 4 zip codes mentioned. When good foreclosures do show up, there will be multiple offers. So, if you are buying right now, evaluate comps in the past 90 to 120 days - anything older than that is old news.
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Update on Crabapple in Milton
categories: Crabapple, Local Market Conditions, Milton Real Estate
The crabapple area is, in my opinion, is one of the best areas to purchase and have a great upside potential. There is no doubt that new construction was hammered when the market took a dive. We still aren’t sure when construction will start up again, but prices came down considerably. On top of that, the businesses in the area continue to do very well - they remain a big draw for locals - making Crabapple a destination location.
More and more often there are people moving out of the city and they look for a live-work-play area in the burbs. Young families with a child who are looking for great public schools and more house for the money, but are concerned they will miss the convenient lifestyle of walking to shops and restaurants. The Crabapple area comes as close as any to giving them that type of lifestyle.
Sip Wine and Tapas is a great example of one of those restaurants, with a big wine selection and fantastic food. But don’t take my word for it, visit them and you’ll see. If you’re on twitter, check out their tweets for some deals: @SipWineandTapas they have something going on most days of the week. Olde Blind Dog continues to pack people in, but who can resist a pint of Guinness! @ElementCoffeeCo has a great following, as does Vintage Pizza. As more businesses move into the area, the draw will grow and property values will continue to rise. And I understand an ice cream shop, Scoops, is going in soon (long overdue!). I think Scoops is the first tenant since the Crabapple Mercantile Exchange sold for $4M last month.
I know, right now in this market it’s hard to think about values rising. But everything is cyclical and down the road homeowners who bought in this area will be glad they did. Just in the two communities directly bordering the shops, Crabapple Crossing and Crabapple Crossroads, there are 10 active listings but 9 others have sold since the first of the year. The brownstones that sold behind Olde Blind Dog went for less than $300k which are phenomenal deals.
St. Michelle and Brierfield are right around the corner. In fact, you can get into Brierfield for the low $300’s. That is a great community for that price. Other nice communities just down the road like Enclave at Crabapple and Crabapple Woods have good opportunities as well. Throw in great schools on top of everything else and there’s no telling how much demand will be created here.
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The BIG Number: April
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Johns Creek Real Estate, Local Market Conditions, Milton Real Estate, Roswell Real Estate, The Big Number
2.8
Months worth of inventory of Bank Owned properties in North Fulton. 91 currently active, 385 sold over the past 12 months. People sitting on the fence, can you hear your train pulling away from the station?
On the last day of each month I post a “Big Number” or interesting figure related to real estate in our area.
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Interview with Alpharetta City Councilman DC Aiken
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Local Information, Local Market Conditions
I had the opportunity to sit down with Alpharetta City Councilman DC Aiken and ask him about the city, how it is faring in the current economy, what projects are going on, what’s happining with Prospect Park and Westside Parkway and his take on the likleyhood of Milton County.
Part 1
Part 2
DC Aiken is an Alpharetta City Councilman and VP for SunTrust: www.suntrustmortgage.com/dcaiken
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Alpharetta Real Estate Market Stats: It’s local
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Johns Creek Real Estate, Local Market Conditions, Milton Real Estate, Roswell Real Estate, Schools
I just wanted to put a few numbers together to illustrate that we have to temper what we hear on the news about the housing market. Lately a lot of people have been pointing out to me that the number of homes sold for January 2o10 has gone down, unexpectedly, from units sold in December 2009. It’s true, January wasn’t as good a month in our industry as a lot of people had anticipated. However, just like other markets, we shouldn’t pay too close attention to gyrations that happen over a short period of time, but rather look at trends year-over-year.
The local part
In all of North Fulton (which includes Alpharetta, Milton, Johns Creek and Roswell), across all price ranges there were 202 homes sold in December 2009. That number a month later in January 2010 was 109 or 54% less than the previous month. But looking at the year-over-year figures, the number for January of this year was up 25% over the January 2009 figure of 87 sales.
It doesn’t mean we’ve arrived, but the gloom and doom on the national news isn’t necessarily the case either.
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