Decatur Existing Home Prices Rise 6.6% in '07
Decatur Metro | June 9, 2008Worried about the real estate market? Well you probably should be.
But if you live in Decatur, you can breathe a little easier.
Despite a 19% drop in new home prices (a very volatile measure in an entirely built out area like Decatur – see orange line in the chart below), the steadier median resale price of existing homes in the city grew 6.57% in 2007 vs. 2006, according to the AJC’s Home Sale Report for 2007.
Only 14 other zip codes in the entire metro area had larger growth than that. (See the second chart on this page for that ranking) In DeKalb, only 30306 (Morningside) and 30324 (LaVista Park area) experienced larger growth.
Not too shabby. We must be doin’ something right. 
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With national median housing prices down around 14% the past year, Decatur has outperformed the average by 20%.
No surprise there. In an era of soaring gas prices and crushing traffic, people are looking for a less automobile-dependent lifestyle, and we’ve got it.
I am not sure this data really means much. Many, probably most, of the houses within walking distance of the square are worth at least twice the median price listed here. And from my observations, prices at the higher end have been dropping significantly, whereas the credit crisis has had less of an effect on prices below the median, which of course don’t have as far to fall. The large drop in new houses — which tend to be high-end — pretty much proves this. There is no reason for a 4 bedroom new home to sell for dramtically less than a comparable house on the same street. Those prices are dropping because the sellers have to sell at the current market price, whereas a lot of owners of existing homes would like to sell but (a) can’t afford to at the new market prices, or (b) are deluding themselves about the market and refusing to drop their asking prices. Their losses are unrealized and thus unreflected in this data.
Interesting article a friend of mine in Boston forwarded to me.
http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/articles/2008/06/11/some_areas_of_the_us_have_escaped_the_punishment_inflicted_by_housing_bust/
Jim, thanks for the article…glad I didn’t buy a house in the Northeast in the past 5 years! And P.S. – Though the CT cities of Hartford and New Haven are labeled as good places to buy, they still have a long way to go!
DEM, regardless of how specific neighborhoods are performing, or whether or not people are holding out to sell, I believe a broad net increase for the city is still a very positive thing.
AJC later published in Homefinder that the only DeKalb County area not to have a drop in number of sales and sale prices is Druid Hills. Is it because it is a historic district?
Druid Hills was recently listed by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 15 blue chip real estate investments in the country.