August brought significant shifts in the Metro Atlanta housing market, with key trends pointing to a notable increase in inventory and a shift in market dynamics. Here’s a breakdown of the essential trends and what they mean for buyers and sellers alike:

Month-Over-Month Trends

• Active Listings: Up by 3.0%. This marks an increase in available properties, providing more options for buyers.
• Listings Under Contract/Pending: Down by 1.9%. The decrease in pending listings indicates a slowing pace in transactions.
• Pending Ratio: Decreased by 1.0 percentage point to 28.3%. This ratio reflects the proportion of listings going under contract relative to the total number of active listings.
• Closed Sales: Dropped by 11.6%. The decline in closed sales, coupled with rising inventory, has increased the Months of Supply to 3.4 months, a rise of 17.2%. Despite these changes, the market remains an overall seller’s market.

Year-Over-Year Trends

• Active Listings: Up by an impressive 62.0%. The surge in inventory is a significant shift from last year.
• Listings Under Contract/Pending: Down by 7.8%. This continued decrease suggests a cooling off in buyer activity compared to last year.
• Closed Sales: Down by 13.9%. Fewer sales have added to the increase in Months of Supply, which has risen by 88.9% to 1.6 months more than the previous year.

Market Impacts

• Price Reductions: Increased by 13.6 percentage points to 44.8% of all closed sales. More price reductions reflect the growing competition among sellers.
• Days on Market (DOM): Rose by 72.2% to an average of 31 days. Properties are taking longer to sell, highlighting the increased competition and buyer hesitance.
• Sales-to-Original-List-Price (S/OLP%): Down by 2.1 percentage points to 97.1%. This decrease indicates that properties are selling for less than their original listing prices.
• Failed Listings: Up by 13.5 percentage points to 39.3%. A higher proportion of listings are expiring, withdrawing, or being canceled.
• Seller Paid Concessions: Increased by 8.5 percentage points to 63.6%. The dollar amount of these concessions has also risen by $1,000, showing that sellers are more frequently offering incentives to close deals.

Pricing Trends

• Median Price: Rose by 1.2% to $435,000 across all property types. Despite the increased inventory and competitive market conditions, home prices have shown a slight increase year-over-year.

Summary

The Metro Atlanta housing market is experiencing increased competition due to higher inventory and fewer sales. Sellers need to be more strategic with property condition and pricing to attract buyers. On the other hand, buyers now have more choices and negotiating power than in recent years. This shift underscores the importance of adapting new strategies in this evolving market environment.

Source:FMLS, single family, Metro Atlanta 8 County Area