From Michelle Cavaliere of 4 Walls Realty – Keller Williams Intown Atlanta
Fourth quarter sales in the City of Decatur remained very strong, showing less of the often-observed end of year slowdown frequently associated with not wanting to buy/sell during the holidays.
Here’s a look the Q4 2015 data vs. previous quarters and Q4 2014.
Again we have two standouts here – the 12% increase in average sales price vs. Q4 2014, and the 38% increase in the number of homes sold vs. Q4 2014.
Sales price to list price jumped back above 98% in Q4 and was just shy of the Q4 2014 SP/LP.
Additionally, there was a 15% increase in the number of sales greater than $500,000 over the number sold last quarter and over the fourth quarter of 2014.
Days on market improved slightly from Q3 to an average of 36 days in Q4, and overall in 2015 properties were on the market a short 37 days.
Elementary School Districts
The quarterly home sales distribution by elementary school zone for 2015 is shown below.
Fourth quarter saw a decrease in homes sold within all zones except Winnona Park and the number of sales across all five schools was relatively evenly distributed in Q4.
Overall in 2015, Clairemont and Oakhurst Elementary Districts had the most home sales. Glennwood, Westchester and Winnona Park had approximately 22% fewer sales than Clairemont and Oakhurst.
Residential Detached vs. Attached
Residential Detached
Single-family home sales dominated the market, increasing 62% vs. the same time period last year! Although the average sales price decreased by 2% vs. Q3, it is still up 6% compared to Q4 2014.
Also, on average larger homes were sold in Q4, with 4 bedroom homes being the most popular.
Residential Attached
Although the total number of condominium and townhouse sales decreased from their 2nd and 3rd quarter highs, they continue to hold steady at just under 1/3 of the total sales for Q4.
Average sales price increased 13% vs. Q3, after a decline between Q2 and Q3, and increased 2% over the same time period last year.
The most popular number of bedrooms for condominium and townhouse properties was 2 bedrooms, seen in all quarters except Q2.
Summary and Looking Forward
We’ve seen a very active Decatur real estate market throughout 2015 with huge increases over previous quarters and/or the same time period in 2014 in both sales volume and average price.
The biggest challenge facing buyers in 2016 will be lack of inventory, with Decatur sitting in a strong seller’s market. Sellers, however, still need to price their homes properly and show buyers the value they get for the price.
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I’m wondering about the average days on market. Is that the time it takes to actually close? Every For Sale sign I see going up has an “Under Contract” attachment after just a day or two at most.
Days on Market is the time from when a property is listed for sale to when it goes under contract. Many properties in Decatur do go under contract in less than a week, sometimes the same or next day. However, there are also several that stay on the market for months. Possible reasons for higher Days on Market include location, condition, high list price, and unfinished new construction to name a few.
It also doesn’t factor in the houses that are sold without being officially listed and are thus never “on the market”.
Would also be interesting to know the average number of days before teardown for the obsolete houses that meet that fate.
MLS does not provide that kind of data on a property after it is sold since it is not a real estate transaction.