Atlanta Foreclosed Home List Prices Down by 24 Percent
Foreclosed home list prices and non-foreclosure prices declined in Atlanta in April, based on the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller report released this week.
But housing analysts in the city contend that the decline is not as steep as those in other cities clobbered by foreclosed home list inventories.
Based on the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index, the average price for homes in the Atlanta metro area fell by 0.42 percent in April, compared to March. The index also showed that without adjustments to incorporate seasonal factors, the average price for homes in the area actually climbed up by 0.3 percent. This increase has been the first uptick since July 2007.
On a year-over-year basis, the average house price in Atlanta fell by 15 percent.
Meanwhile, the 20-city Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index dropped by 1 percent on a month-over-month basis and dropped by 18 percent on a year-over-year basis.
Analysts explained that home prices in Atlanta never climbed up as high as in Phoenix or in the cities of Southern Florida, so home prices now are not falling down as steeply as those in other cities carrying volumes of foreclosed home list inventories.
They said that the Atlanta market has not been a bubble market, but the construction of new houses surpassed growth, pushing home prices down when demand declined.
Home prices reached their highest levels in Atlanta in the spring buying season of 2007. Currently, average home prices in the metro area have gone down to December 2000 levels.
Based on the S&P/Case-Shiller data, houses in the lower end of the market suffered the most severe decline in value in April compared to April 2008. Homes priced below $136,739 have gone down in value by 24 percent.
On the other hand, homes priced between $136,739 and $223,395 have gone down in value by approximately 17 percent.
As expected, homes in the higher end of the market suffered the least in price decline. Homes priced above $223,395 have gone down in value by approximately 13 percent.
According to housing analysts, the foreclosed home list problem in Atlanta arose just like in many other cities as a cause and an effect of the nationwide economic downturn.
Foreclosures downed the housing market and then later other industries, causing thousands of layoffs. In the metro Atlanta area, one out of every 20 employed workers has lost his job, pushing the joblessness rate to 9.6 percent in May. This level of unemployment is expected to push more homes into foreclosed home list inventories.
