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.

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What a difference a few months and peak selling season make in the trends! Here’s a look at 2^nd Quarter 2015 data for several of Decatur’s direct neighbors. Our analysis of Q1 2015 can be found here.

The spring market delivered improvements over Q1 in all categories – the total number of homes sold doubled or tripled, days on market decreased, average sales price increased, and sales price to list price increased for the most part across all neighboring areas. Avondale Estates saw the most dramatic change over Q1 with triple the number of homes sold, days on market cut in half, a 4% gain in SP/LP, and a 41% rise in average sales price versus Q1.

The number of homes sold increased for all neighborhoods during the spring selling season. Of the adjoining neighborhoods, Druid Hills leads the pack with just over half the number sold in Decatur. Kirkwood comes in right behind Druid Hills, swapping places from Q1. Avondale, East Lake, and Medlock Park were nearly equal, hovering around 30 sales in Q2.

East Lake, Kirkwood and Medlock Park homes boasted the shortest time on the market at 31 days and just edging out Decatur at 36 days. Avondale Estates homes were on the market a bit longer, selling in approximately 1½ months. Homes in Druid Hills took the longest to sell averaging just less than 2 months, which is not unexpected since homes at the higher price points typically take longer to sell.

Sales Price to List Price remained strong in all neighboring areas. Kirkwood came in with the highest SP/LP at 99.5% and took over the top spot from East Lake in Q1. Medlock Park tied Decatur for the #2 spot at 98.8%.

Druid Hills held onto the highest average sales price, but only saw a 7% increase over Q1. Decatur posted the 2^nd highest average sales price and increased approximately 15% over Q1. Avondale ranked 3^rd in average sales price and had the biggest jump increasing 41% over Q1. Kirkwood and East Lake were 4^th and 5^th with 12% and 14% increases over Q1 respectively. Medlock Park rounded out the group hovering just above $250,000 and was the only neighborhood to show a drop over Q1 of approximately 3%.
The 3^rd Quarter numbers are likely to be interesting, since they combine the final two months of peak selling season with back to school.

Click over to our website to search for homes currently for sale.

Photo courtesy of Avondale Estates website

 

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Listed at $204,900

Updated, end unit townhouse in City of Decatur! Three blocks from Avondale Marta, less than 1 mile to downtown Decatur shops/restaurants, easy commute to Emory & CDC.  Features 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, two master suites upstairs, upstairs laundry, 1 car garage with extra storage, and expanded deck.

Open House Sunday, August 2nd from 2-4pm!

More photos below and at 4WallsRealty.com:

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

Have several houses sold in your neighborhood this summer? Have you watched them sell in what seems like an instant? The second quarter numbers for City of Decatur are in and there are some eye-catching statistics to support those observations.

The table below compares Q2 vs. Q1 this year, as well as vs. second quarter 2014.

There are two obvious standouts here. The first is the increase in average sales price, which is up 15% over first quarter 2015 and a huge 24% over Q2 2014.  Additionally, the number of sales greater than $500,000 is approximately triple the number sold last quarter and almost 2.5 times the number sold in the second quarter of 2014. Days on market dropped again, falling to an average of 36 days.

Some of you expressed interest in the home sales distribution by school zone last quarter, so here’s the 2015 breakdown so far.

The Oakhurst Elementary district saw the largest jump in Q2, increasing to 2.5 times its Q1 number. The remaining gains over Q1 were fairly evenly distributed over the other elementary schools and consistent with the increase in total properties sold in Q2.

Finally, looking closer at residential detached vs. attached we again see some definitive trends.

Residential Attached

Although the proportion of condo and townhome sales held steady at approximately 1/3 of the total sales for Q2, the total number of residential attached sales almost doubled over Q1 2015. This was accompanied by a 20% increase in the average sales price vs. Q1, and a 38% increase over the average sales price compared to the same time period last year. A jump was also seen in the most popular number of bedrooms for condo and townhome properties from 2 to 3 bedrooms.

Residential Detached

The total number of single-family homes sold was 32% higher than the same time period last year. This was accompanied by a 12% increase in the average sales price vs. Q1, and an 18% increase over the average sales price over Q2 2014. The most popular number of bedrooms increased to 4 bedrooms from 3 bedrooms in Q1.

Obviously the Decatur real estate market is very active so far this year with two months still remaining of peak selling season.

If you are interested in finding out the market value of your home, click here. To see all homes currently for sale in Decatur, visit my website.

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We’ve recently taken a close look at overall real estate trends in both Decatur and Druid Hills, how do the overall metrics in these areas compare to their neighbors?

Here’s a look at 1^st Quarter 2015 data for Decatur and several of its direct neighbors.

One interesting metric here is the number of homes sold. Obviously this number is influenced by the size of the area, but regardless, more homes were sold in Decatur than any other neighboring area.  Kirkwood leads the pack of adjoining neighborhoods with just over half the number sold in Decatur. Druid Hills comes in right behind Kirkwood. Avondale, East Lake, and Medlock Park only had a handful of sales in comparison.

Days on market were basically equal for Decatur, East Lake and Kirkwood and averaged just over a month. Druid Hills homes were on the market a bit longer, at approximately 1 ½ months.   Homes in Avondale took the longest to sell averaging 3 months.

Sales Price to List Price was strong in all neighboring areas. East Lake came in with the highest SP/LP, surpassing Decatur at 99.8%! Decatur and Kirkwood were tied for second at 98.4% SP/LP.

Not surprisingly, the highest average sales price was in Druid Hills, closely followed by Decatur. Kirkwood and East Lake came in 3^rd and 4^th, respectively and were very close in Average Sales Price. Medlock and Avondale rounded out the group hovering just above and just below $250,000, respectively.

While these numbers give us an interesting look at neighboring markets, keep in mind the small number of homes sold in some areas can lead skewed numbers if there is an outlier in the category (i.e. days on market, sales price).  We’ll take another look at the data after the 2^nd Quarter numbers are in.

Click over to our website to search for homes currently for sale.

Photo courtesy of Historic Kirkwood website

Having just leased out three, brand-new retail spaces at The Place on Ponce in Downtown Decatur, Redstone Properties President, Lyle Fogarty, may currently have one of the best vantage points to report on the state of the city’s retail real estate market.

In a recent press release, Mr. Fogarty noted that “The demand for retail space in Decatur was greater than we projected,” He continued, “It is clear that restaurant owners and retailers recognize the uniqueness of the area and its value.”

I was curious for find out a bit more detail as to what this demand looked like, so I followed up.  His response should be quite interesting to many of you who like to follow and offer predictions on Decatur commercial real estate trends.

We simply had demand from many more tenants than the 10,000 sf of space could accommodate.  By far, the most demand came from restaurants.  We could have filled up 30,000 sf with restaurants if we had the space (and parking).

There was some demand for soft goods and apparel, but many of those retailers like to congregate together and need more critical mass to help them be successful.  If a location could be identified in Downtown where a developer could build 50,000 or more square feet of modern retail space, there’s sufficient demand from shop tenants to make a vibrant retail district in Downtown in addition to the renowned restaurant scene.

So basically, even though the restaurant market may already seem pretty saturated in Decatur, it sounds like we shouldn’t expect it to ease up anytime soon.  Also, for those expecting a greater variety of clothing stores in the city, you may need to wait for a very large project to come in and provide the necessary space to allow a “critical mass”.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see if any of the current projects in development (Arlo, Alexan Decatur residential only!) or planned (Calloway, Avondale MARTA Station) will make a move in this direction.

You’re probably aware that it’s currently a seller’s market here in Atlanta with well under 6 months worth of supply available. Not surprisingly, that’s also true here in the City of Decatur.

Check out the table below for some 1^st Quarter 2015 insights specific to the Decatur real estate market compared to the same time period last year.

While the average sales price is up approximately 1% vs. 1^st quarter last year, what really stands out is that Days on Market (DOM) has decreased from 55 to 38 days! Also, while the sale of homes under $500,000 declined slightly year over year, the majority of sales remain under the $500,000 price point.

Digging a little deeper, when you break out sales by single-family homes vs. condos and townhomes, some interesting trends emerge.

Interestingly, over ⅓ of sales in Q1 2015 were condos and townhomes vs. ¼ during the same period in 2014. This was accompanied by a 36% increase in the average sales price vs. Q1 last year, while single-family home prices increased just over 1%.

Additionally, two bedroom floor plans remained the most popular choice for condo and townhome buyers, while the most popular number of bedrooms for single-family homes decreased from 4 to 3 bedrooms.

We’ll take another look at what the numbers say at the end of June – 2 months into peak selling season. Let me know if there are any other metrics you’re interested in seeing.

Click over to the website to see all homes currently for sale in Decatur.