“We are seeing some signs of improvement, but the market is still challenged,” he said.
When listings are scarce and buyers bid against each other, prices tend to rise rapidly — and they were climbing at a double-digit pace through much of 2021 and 2022. But last year, the balance began to shift — slowly and incompletely — but enough to slow the price hikes.
The median sales price in March was up 6% from a year earlier, according to Georgia MLS.
And even as price increases more slowly, they continue to threaten the region’s affordability — long a draw for transplants from more expensive regions. The listing price, below $270,000 a decade ago is now $410,000, according to Realtor.com.
Atlanta is the most overpriced housing market in the country, with a growing risk of a pricing “correction,” according to data analyzed by researchers at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University.
Homes in metro Atlanta are on average 42% overpriced, according to economist Ken Johnson, at FAU’s college of business. “While it’s unlikely prices will plummet dramatically, price performance could go flat for the future, or homes prices could see a slight decline even.”
Yes, prices are up, said Kristen Jones, owner of Re/Max Around Atlanta, but she scoffed at the idea that Atlanta is overpriced. “Values are market-driven based on supply and demand. And demand still far outweighs supply in Atlanta with no end in sight.”
Housing sales in metro Atlanta typically peak in May and June as families scramble to find homes in preferred school districts for their children before the next academic year.
But the region simply has too few homes to meet the demand created by a growing population, she said. “According to experts, we need to be putting around 50,000 homes on the ground to keep up with demand.”
Moreover, many zoning laws prevent builders from putting up townhomes or single-family houses on smaller lots, which would mean more dwellings and…
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