October was a good month for home sellers in metro Atlanta.
The median price of the houses sold last month was $290,000 — 16.5% higher than in October 2019, according to Re/Max, which collects data from transactions in 28 metro counties.
There were 9,150 homes sold in that region during October, up about 11% from a year ago.
“The only metric that is down is the number of listings, which means we still cannot meet buyer demand,” said Kristen Jones, broker and owner of Re/Max Around Atlanta.
With the paychecks of many white-collar professionals relatively unscathed, the pool of wannabe homebuyers has grown.
Yet the supply they are competing for has been shrinking.
Experts consider the market balanced — with equal leverage to sellers and buyers — when the number of listings is equal to about six months of sales. But metro Atlanta has been tilting in favor of sellers for several years, and the shortage of homes has been even more acute during the pandemic.
In October, the number of listings in the region represented about 1.7 months of sales. That means buyers are often bidding against each other for homes, a formula for higher prices.
A year ago, the median sales price was 7.8% below the seller’s asking price. Last month, the median sales price was just 2.8% below the list price, according to Re/Max.
According to Re/Max, in Atlanta, a home is on the market for an average of just 37 days before a sale, the shortest time in more than a decade. .
Low interest rates are enticing buyers into the market and giving them more buying power, said Jennifer Pino, president of the Atlanta Realtors Association. “These factors should continue to put upward pressure on the average sales prices over the next few months,” she said.
Metro Atlanta housing market, October
Highlights
Median sales price: $290,000
Change from a year ago: +16.5%
Average time to sell a home: 37 days
Highest-priced county: Forsyth, $391,462
Lowest-priced county: Clayton, $160,000
Most homes sold by county
Fulton: 1,667
Gwinnett: 1,378
Cobb: 1,201
DeKalb: 917
Cherokee: 539
Forsyth: 480
Clayton: 157
Henry: 138
Source: Re/Max
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