Did Housing Inventory in Atlanta Increase in the 1st Qtr of 2022?
Posted by Hank Miller on
April breaks over Georgia and the pencil necked geeks hike up their socks and tape up their glasses. It's time to answer the nagging question…did
housing inventory in Atlanta increase during the first quarter of 2022? Well that answer is more than a yes/no binary option, context is needed and that’s best done by looking back a bit. The first quarter of any year around Atlanta tends to set up the second one. Traditionally, the months of May and June see the most new listings as the school cycle hits – graduating families sell and rising families buy. This year however, rocketing mortgage rates and other economic challenges may change that.
The charts below focus on key indicators; number of listings, number of sales, days on market and sale to list…
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$450K home in his sights but was annoyed with the price and having to compete with other buyers. He lost it. He then found two more solid fits at $465K and $445K, liked them and felt his offers were right on target. Losing both, he decided to wait for the "spring" market because he knows that prices will come down as inventory increases. While waiting, his mortgage rate went from 3.35% to 4.72%; a whiplash rise of 1.37% and one that forced Timmy's budget to decrease between $65K-$75K. Timmy waits; chin in hand with Lassie who is beyond pissed with him for blowing several good opportunities. "Surely the spring market will…
It’s hard to find a housing market not presently on fire, Atlanta is no different. Compared to a decade ago and the worst housing crisis ever, this market turn around improvement is among the tops in the country. The 2022 market could not be more different than the 2010-12 market...over 100K homes were on the market during the darkest days. The Atlanta real estate market explosion is due in large part to its broad appeal, size and vast selection of properties. The “Atlanta Real Estate market” is a misnomer; the area is akin to spilled glass of milk. With no natural boundaries, it sprawls over 8 to 16 counties depending on who sources the information. Each area is its own micro market but all contribute to the overall "Atlanta housing market".
estate market could be described in those ways. No one anticipated the impact of Covid and the subsequent impact of billions in government subsidies. But now the brakes are being applied and economists wonder, what will the 2022 Atlanta real estate market look like? Something has to give...or maybe not. At this point in the '22 market (Mid Feb), nothing has changed. In fact, the tempo has increased ahead of rising mortgage rates, which are already a point higher than last year at this time. Just a month ago, we posted that home buyers will be frustrated, that's largely confirmed at this point.
traditionally slow, the big influences on the market were inflation levels unseen in 40 yrs, supply chain shortages, labor issues and of course the rise and run of the omicron covid variant. That is best described as an endemic; like the flu it's evident that the covid situation isn't going anywhere. So despite all of that, we did have a 4th qtr housing market report for Atlanta and it read much the same as the rest of 2021; record low inventory and frustrated buyers. What lies ahead for 2022? Well we know rising rates; as this is written in mid Jan, rates are already up from a few weeks ago and they will…
record high inflation, planning at least three rate bumps for 2022. The prognosticators are out there already making bold claims; you can find the overt optimists and you can find the dark pessimists. So what's in store for home buyers and sellers that have to make a move this spring? Well given this environment, we’re not going to look much past the first quarter or so. Buyers will again be challenged and sellers will reap the reward…until they become buyers. As usual,…