You know that home-sales chart from city-data that I’m always resurrecting?  You know, this one!

Well believe it or not, there’s a bit more to Decatur real estate than just a crummy mass-produced slide found in the bowels of the internet.

This evening from 5:30p-7p, Decatur residents and real estate agents, Terry Michel and Sean Dammann, are hosting a Decatur Real Estate Forum of area agents, residents and community leaders at Decatur’s Keller Williams office at 315 West Ponce to give an overview and discuss the health of Decatur’s real estate market.

While once an event geared exclusively to local agents from various realty groups around Atlanta, Dammann and Michel decided to open this quarterly event to the public and focus exclusively on the Decatur market as a service to their community.

According to Dammann, some of the questions to be answered during the forum include…

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According to the AJC’s “Atlanta Home Sales Report”, Decatur had the 11th largest gain in combined home sales price in the metro-region from 2007 to 2008, and ranked second in new home sales price growth.

A closer look shows why “second in new home sales price growth!” shouldn’t be the headline.

New home sales price depends heavily on what’s available from one year to the next, so the median price of a new home in Decatur jumps wildly from one year to the next.  So though a 71% gain sounds great, it’s entirely dependent on available inventory.

Existing home sales is a much better indicator.  From 2007 to 2008, existing home sales declined 9% (520 vs. 474), while the median resale price actually increased a percentage point vs. 2007 (from $266,950 to $270,200).

Bottom line?  Sales are down vs. 2007, but remain at levels that were seen as recently as 2003.  Meanwhile, Decatur’s median existing home price continues to buck the national trend, while the new home price is up big, resulting in an 11th place ranking metro-wide.

“Up slightly” is the new “triple digit gain”.