Atlanta Market Update: August 2019

Atlanta Mortgage Lender – Mortgage and Real Estate Market Update on Atlanta, GA Area

 

If you’re looking to buy or sell your home in the current housing market, a good place to start is by talking with your Atlanta mortgage lender.  They will know what the local housing trends are and what the forecast looks like for 2019.

 

Housing Market Forecast for Atlanta in 2019

Toward the end of 2018, we saw home sales decline in the Atlanta area.  This tends to suggest that there is a softening of housing demand from buyers.  However, we also saw a combo of growth in the population, along with an inventory that is a bit limited.  This should help to sustain demand for 2019.  It’s also likely that we will see a rise in home price gains as well.

A number of experts are predicting a rise in home prices for the remainder of the year, however, at a much slower rate than we have seen in the past couple of years.  One Atlanta mortgage broker shared that, given the current situation with supply and demand for the Atlanta area, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a 5 to 8% rise in the median home prices this year.  Bear in mind that this level of home appreciation will vary from each area as a result of different levels of supply.

Overall, this looks like it will be a good year for buying a home in the Atlanta area, given the inventory rise experienced during 2018.  This means home buyers will have more choices when it comes to home buying. Even better is the fact that mortgage rates have remained at historically low levels.

 

Home Prices

Over the last couple of years, we have seen a steady rise in home prices that outpaced the national average.  This was down to having a limited number of homes available for sale and an abundance of buyers, which put upward pressure on home prices.  At the start of 2019, the median home price in Atlanta was around $256,000, a gain of over 14% compared to this time last year.

We are set to see a shift during the rest of this year, however.  Inventory has been rising as of late, which has given buyers more options for them to choose from.  At the same time, this has eased the competition in the market for the area. Over the past few years, it has been more of a seller’s market in Atlanta.  However, 2018 saw a shift in this trend and 2019 will become a more balanced market, with the possibility of a soft buyer’s market.

 

Supply and Demand

Inventory has been one of the most noted changes for the real estate market in Atlanta.  Like most major cities across America, Atlanta has also suffered over the past few years from a home shortage.  However, that started to shift in 2018 and Atlanta went from having a 2.5 month supply to a 4.5 month supply by December of last year.   This means buyers will have more to choose from for 2019.

Atlanta mortgage lenders have seen a number of price reductions for 2019, and these slowing sales are what have motivated sellers to be more flexible when listing their prices and when negotiating with buyers.  If these trends continue for 2019, it’s quite possible that 2020 will become more of a buyer’s market.