Month: June 2016

Decatur Home Prices Continue to Rise

From Michelle Cavaliere of 4 Walls Realty – Keller Williams Intown Atlanta

Very low inventory of homes for sale, and high demand, translated into impressive 1st Quarter gains for City of Decatur home sales.

Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015

Decatur_2016Q1_summary

Decatur_Q1 2016_infographic

Highlights:

  • 16% increase in the average and median sales price vs. Q1 2015.
  • 54% increase in the number of sales greater than $500,000 compared to first quarter of 2015.
  • 24% increase in the number of homes sold vs. Q1 2015.

Sellers received almost full list price for their homes with the sales price to list price ratio at 99% in Q1, a small increase from Q1 2015.

Days on market saw a significant increase over Q1 2015, but this is still a low number by historical and national standards.

Elementary School Districts

The quarterly home sales distribution by elementary school zone for Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015 is shown below.

Decatur_2016Q1_Schools

The Winnona Park school zone saw the largest increase in homes sold in Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015.

Residential Detached vs. Attached

Residential Detached

Single-family home sales dominated the market, increasing 33% vs. the same time period last year. Average sales price jumped 12% vs. Q1 2015, while the median single-family home price increased 3% compared to the same time period last year.

Three bedroom homes were the dominant home sold, with 4 and 5 bedroom homes tied for second.

Residential Attached

Condominium and townhouse sales were almost equal in number to Q1 2015 and accounted for just less than 1/3 of the total home sales in Q1 2016. Their share of the total home sales has held at approximately 1/3 of the total sales since Q1 2015.

Average sales price increased 14% vs. Q1 2015, however median sales price for condominiums and townhomes decreased 13.3 % over the same time period.

Two-bedroom homes continue to be the most popular for condos and townhouse properties.

Decatur_2016Q1_Det_vs_Att

Summary and Looking Forward

The Decatur real estate market had a strong first quarter in 2016, outperforming the same time period last year in nearly every metric. Lack of inventory likely drove the price gains. Next quarter brings us into peak selling season where we’re likely to see the continued effects of the lack of inventory for sale.

If you are interested in chatting with me about the market value of your home, click here. To see all homes currently for sale in Decatur download my home search app.

 

MM: Oakhurst Brewpub Timeline, Braves Traffic, and City Happiness

suntrust park

  • Construction of Oakhurst brewpub starts within a month [Decaturish]
  • ‘Nightmare’ plan to put Braves stadium traffic on Sandy Springs streets draws City Council outrage [Reporter]
  • Hawks, Emory Break Ground on Research Facility [Curbed]
  • Woodruff Park chess court shut down ‘until further notice’ [CL]
  • The Price of Happiness in Cities [CityLab]

Screenshot courtesy of Braves Webcam

At Home: Top-Sellers in May, Tiny Home Living & Natural Swimming Pools

  • Metro Atlanta’s Top-Selling Counties, May 2016 [Atlanta Agent Magazine]
  • What Living in a Tiny Home is Really Like [Realtor Mag]
  • 5 Home Design Trends Emerging in This Year’s Marketplace [Inman]
  • For Bestselling Author and Designer James Farmer, It Was Finally Time to Build [Atlanta Magazine]
  • Back to Nature: How To Build an Environmentally Friendly Swimming Pool [Apartment Therapy]

Brought to you by Michelle Cavaliere of 4wallsrealty.  Find us on Facebook!

Decatur Ranks as “Best Place to Live” in Georgia; Ranks 79th in Nation

EOTS_DecaturSquare

You may have seen recently in local media that Decatur ranked as the #1 suburb in Georgia, based on Niche’s annual “Best Place’s to Live” ranker.

Pretty cool, but I don’t think it’s too much as a surprise to many.  Decatur often does well in these sorts of place rankers.  Especially when just looking within the state.

But Niche’s “Best Places To Live” ranks go much broader.  And I haven’t yet seeing anyone else mention that not only is Decatur ranked the #1 Suburb, but it’s hands down ranked as the #1 “Place to Live” in Georgia.  AND overall it ranked as the 79th best place to live in all of America.

So, yes.  Limiting Decatur’s performance to “Best Suburb in Georgia” is a bit of unnecessary over-qualification.

FYI – Decatur scored A’s and A+’s in the following categories: Education, Public Schools, Diversity, Health & Fitness, Nightlife, Shortest Commute and Family Amenities in Niche’s ranker.  It got B’s or B+’s in: Outdoor Activities, Jobs, and Weather.  It got a B- for Crime & Safety and it scored Cs for Cost of Living and Real Estate.

Photo courtesy of Al

Free-For-All Friday 6/24/16

Sorry for the delay!  Site is being temperamental this morning.

Feel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local topics not yet discussed over the past week.

Starting July 1st, Decatur Residents Need To Separate Glass For Recycling

glass recycle

The City of Decatur send around this notice early this week to inform residents that starting next Friday, July 1st, we will need to separate our glass recycling from all other trash and recycling to get it recycled.

The message on the back is similar to the one posted on the city’s recycling page…

Separated glass collection services begin July 1, 2016.

New rules set by recycling facilities dictate that glass must be collected separately from other recyclables. Decatur residents will need two bins – one bin for glass only, and one for paper, plastics and metal. Residents will be responsible for providing the second bin, and there are no stipulations regarding type or color, though it should be 18 gallons or smaller. Your recycling will be picked up the same day as your garbage. See the City of Decatur single family residential waste collection schedule here.

The note on the reverse of the card also points out that the annual sanitation fee for the new fiscal year has increased from $250 to $275 to cover the cost for separated glass recycling.

The city has wrestled with what to do about glass recycling since early this year, as industry demand for recycled glass has declined and recyclers are now often refusing to accept it.   The city asked residents what they wanted to do and via an online city survey and 90% of respondents were willing to pay $25 to $35 more a year to recycle glass.

So that’s what’s happening.

Finally, will the glass actually be recycled?  According to the city’s glass recycling FAQ – YES.

Yes. The glass collected from the separated residential curbside program will be sent to a recovery facility called Strategic Materials. They are a processor for recycled glass used in a wide array of products such as containers, fiberglass insulation, and countertops