According to the Wall Street Journal, existing-homes sales increased 1.7% in August to an annual rate of 5.48 million, the highest level in more than six years.
The National Association of Realtors reported that sales rose as buyers rushed to lock in mortgage rates before they increase any further. Looking forward, however, the NAR expects rising rates will eventually slow down home purchases.
NAR said the median price of a home nationally was $212,100 in August, up 14.7% from the year-earlier level, the largest growth since October 2005, as pricier homes saw large annual sales growth. Inventories rose 0.4% to 2.25 million homes available for sale, representing a 4.9-month supply at current sales rates.
Find out what's happening in Smyrna-Viningswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Looking more locally, in Smyrna zipcode 30080, we see slightly different numbers. Inventory for single family homes is up slightly, but sales decreased slightly from July’s high marks. Going back one year, this July had the highest number of homes under contract or sold and almost the lowest level of inventory. The average sold price for July was $335,000 and August saw an average of $266,000. Check out the first graph.
Looking at Vinings zip code 30339, we see the inventory of single family homes for sale remains low. The number of homes under contract has gone up to the highest level in a year. The amount of homes that sold in August decreased only slightly from July, with the past year’s highest level of sold homes occurring in June 2013. The average sold price for August was $570,000 compared to an average of $913,000 in July. Check out the second graph.
Find out what's happening in Smyrna-Viningswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
So what does all of this mean? It means that both nationally and locally the housing market has seen some real improvement in the past year. All of the data taken together means one thing- it’s a really good time to sell or buy a home even thought the boom of the spring and summer selling season has passed. Inventory levels are still at a nice low level. If you’re selling, that means the competition is lessened. If you are buying, consider the risk of waiting. Heading into the winter months, interest rates will probably stay relatively close to their current low levels. Wait till spring, and who knows where they will be.
If you’d like to learn more about sales in your specific neighborhood, please feel free to call me at 678-478-2424 or email me at john@petersenpartners.com and I will be happy to send you a free, no obligation market analysis. You can also view an awesome video market update for metro Atlanta by visiting our website. Just click on the link and you can select any metro area to hear a quick recap of the latest data for that market.