This is good news for a change. After a drop in the number of homes in Athens, GA from twelve months ending June 1, 2008, through twelve months ending September 1, 2009 we have now seen in a rolling twelve months for two consecutive periods that the number of homes sold in Athens have increased.
| 12-Months | Athens | |||||
| Thru | DOM | Average | Median | # sold | ||
| 1-Jun-08 | 174 | $168,257.00 | $142,400.00 | 1382 | ||
| 1-Jul-08 | 173 | $171,767.00 | $145,000.00 | 1321 | ||
| 1-Aug-08 | 173 | $175,821.00 | $149,625.00 | 1229 | ||
| 1-Sep-08 | 176 | $173,195.00 | $149,625.00 | 1190 | ||
| 1-Oct-08 | 178 | $174,139.00 | $149,900.00 | 1182 | ||
| 1-Nov-08 | 181 | $173,224.00 | $149,838.00 | 1141 | ||
| 1-Dec-08 | 185 | $173,172.00 | $149,800.00 | 1110 | ||
| 1-Jan-09 | 184 | $173,985.00 | $149,000.00 | 1073 | ||
| 1-Feb-09 | 187 | $173,811.00 | $149,600.00 | 1061 | ||
| 1-Mar-09 | 187 | $171,941.00 | $148,000.00 | 1042 | ||
| 1-Apr-09 | 190 | $172,330.00 | $145,000.00 | 1009 | ||
| 1-May-09 | 194 | $172,007.00 | $145,000.00 | 961 | ||
| 1-Jun-09 | 200 | $171,810.00 | $145,000.00 | 901 | ||
| 1-Jul-09 | 202 | $168,545.00 | $143,000.00 | 851 | ||
| 1-Aug-09 | 206 | $163,233.00 | $140,000.00 | 822 | ||
| 1-Sep-09 | 205 | $163,587.00 | $139,900.00 | 774 | ||
| 1-Oct-09 | 204 | $163,219.00 | $140,000.00 | 782 | ||
| 1-Nov-09 | 201 | $162,647.00 | $140,000.00 | 790 |
It has been my belief that looking at rolling twelve month periods or cycles is more effective in terms of analyzing sales trends than simply looking at them from month to month. June 1, 2008 for the preceding year we saw 1382 homes sold in Athens. From this period on for 16 consecutive 12-month cycles we saw nothing but a decrease in each period in homes sold with no relief, until now!
The other thing of interest is that days on market on the average have shrunk slightly and the median sales price has maintained itself after dropping just below $140,000 for twelve months ending September 1, 2009.
We are still a long, long way to go to get back to our peak in terms of the number of homes sold in a year, but what is of keen interest to me is that while in the last year we have averaged 65.8 home sales per month, in the last six months we have seen this take off to an astounding 83.8 homes sales monthly. Granted, this is during peak sales season and the past six months you would expect an increase in average sales over a ‘dumbed’ down year which includes the later part of fall and winter months which are historically slower, but at this pace the 6-month absorption rate is now below 10 months at 9.5 months of housing supply! We have not seen single digit inventory levels in Athens in a good while!
Only time will tell, but for now the sales figures appear to be about the most encouraging they have been in a long time.
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