Tim's Atlanta Real Estate Blog: May 2009

Below are the numbers for the total FMLS area for April 2009. They are for single family detached homes. 

I  have graphs for 26 local market areas around Atlanta.  Links with a reference map are down below.

Overall, the numbers were encouraging. The average price actually went up vs. the previous month of March.  I'm personally seeing multiple offers on many homes that are priced low from the beginning. 

Clayton County prices are still on the decline.  The average price now is all the way down to $44,779.  Just 12 months ago it was just over $100,000. 

The areas that seem to be holding up on prices are Alpharetta/Roswell and North East Cobb and Dunwoody.

South DeKalb still is falling along with the Stone Mountain area.

South Fulton's big fall in prices might be bottoming out.  Inside the Perimeter in South Fulton prices finally went up a little after touching $40,000.

Year over year numbers for March for single family detached homes for the total FMLS areas are as follows:

Average sales price decreased 20% from $240,473 to $191,803.

Number of transactions decreased 7.3% from 3,564 to 3,303

For more specific market areas, click on the links below.

Clayton County  (Area 161)

Cobb County, South (Area 72)
Cobb County, South Central (Area 73)
Cobb County, West (Area 74)
Cobb County, Northwest (Area 75)
Cobb County, Northeast (Area 81)
Cobb County, East Central (Area 82)
Cobb County, East South (Area 83)

DeKalb County, Tucker (Area 41)
DeKalb County, Stone Mountain (Area 42)
DeKalb County, South (Area 43)
DeKalb County, Decatur (Area 52)
DeKalb County, Dunwoody (Area 121)

Forsyth County, East (Area 221)
Forsyth County, West (Area 222)

Fulton County, Alpharetta/Roswell (Area 13)
Fulton County, Alpharetta (Area 14)
Fulton County, Buckhead (Area 21)
Fulton County, Bankhead Hwy. (Area 22)
Fulton County, Midtown (Area 23)
Fulton County, West End (Area 31)
Fulton County, South Fulton (Area 33)
Fulton County , Sandy Springs (Area 131)
Fulton County, Sandy Springs (Area 132)

Gwinnett County, Duluth/Buford (Area 62)
Gwinnett County , Lilburn (Area 64)

Governor Sonny Purdue has a press release on his website announcing his signing of House Bill 261.

Governor Sonny Perdue today signed House Bill 261, which provides a $1,800 tax credit for home purchases. The credit, which would be taken over three years, takes effect immediately and is meant to spur activity in the housing market.

I checked out the actual Bill to make sure I understood the details.  The main detail I wanted to verify is the closing date necessary in order to get the credit.  The Governor's website said "The credit...takes effect immediately" but my reading of the Bill makes me believe it actually takes effect on June 1st.

...for the purchase of one eligible single-family residence made during the six-month period commencing on the first day of the month following the effective date of this Code section and ending on the last day of the sixth complete month thereafter.

I called the Governor's office for clarification.  I finally got Sonny Purdue's assistant.  I asked for clarification because his press release seems to differ from the actual bill.  He told me that I should talk with an attorney for their interpretation but in his layman's opinion, he thinks that it takes effect on June 1st.  I told him that in my opinion, the Governor might want to change his press release to clarify this.  Where I come from, "takes effect immediately" means just that.

The credit isn't limited to first time homebuyers like the federal tax credit is.

The credit is for up to $1800 or no more than 1.2% of the purchase price, whichever is less.

You only can take one third of it per year for the next three years.

If it does in fact take effect on June 1st, then it might be worthwhile to try to delay any closing between now and June 1st.

Many people ask me about property taxes. Usually it's around 1% of the home value.

But it depends on the homestead exemption and some other exemptions like the senior citizen break they give you in Cobb County. 

Cobb has a neat online property  tax estimator.  Just put in the value of the home and it will give you the estimated tax with and without a homestead exemption and alsof what it would be for people 62 years old and up.

Here is the result for a $400,000 home.

These numbers came out two weeks ago.  I've been really busy but I finally got time to update all of my charts. 

Below are the numbers for the total FMLS area for March 2009. They are for single family detached homes. It's nice to know but the important numbers are what's happening in your more immediate area.  For that, I now have graphs for 26 local market areas around Atlanta.  Links with a reference map are down below.  I'll add  about 10 more areas as time permits over the next few months.

Overall, the numbers were encouraging. I think the next two months will see the number of sales transactions go up quite a bit.  The March sales numbers are the result of buyers making offers in January and February.  I personally saw a big surge of activity in February and March so I think the sales numbers in April and May will reflect that.  

Clayton County has taken a beating in prices in the past two years so the average price is now $47,365.  That sure looks like an opportunity. Especially since their school district is now getting their accreditation back.

Sales in Sandy Springs have slowed dramatically.  I had to do a double take when I saw the number of transactions. North Sandy Springs only had 9 transactions in March and South Sandy Springs had only 5.

East Cobb, Area #83, also showed only 22 transactions for March.

Year over year numbers for March for single family detached homes for the total FMLS areas are as follows:

Average sales price decreased 25.5% from $246,901 to $183,800.

Number of transactions decreased 10.6% from 3,599 to 3,215

For more specific market areas, click on the links below.

Clayton County  (Area 161)

Cobb County, South (Area 72)
Cobb County, South Central (Area 73)
Cobb County, West (Area 74)
Cobb County, Northwest (Area 75)
Cobb County, Northeast (Area 81)
Cobb County, East Central (Area 82)
Cobb County, East South (Area 83)

DeKalb County, Tucker (Area 41)
DeKalb County, Stone Mountain (Area 42)
DeKalb County, South (Area 43)
DeKalb County, Decatur (Area 52)
DeKalb County, Dunwoody (Area 121)

Forsyth County, East (Area 221)
Forsyth County, West (Area 222)

Fulton County, Alpharetta/Roswell (Area 13)
Fulton County, Alpharetta (Area 14)
Fulton County, Buckhead (Area 21)
Fulton County, Bankhead Hwy. (Area 22)
Fulton County, Midtown (Area 23)
Fulton County, West End (Area 31)
Fulton County, South Fulton (Area 33)
Fulton County , Sandy Springs (Area 131)
Fulton County, Sandy Springs (Area 132)

Gwinnett County, Duluth/Buford (Area 62)
Gwinnett County , Lilburn (Area 64)