The December 2021 Market Brief, compiled by First Multiple Listing Service (FMLS), provides a regionally focused synopsis of monthly sales and home prices for residential properties in Metro Atlanta. This summary covers 11 counties: Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Paulding and Rockdale.
Demand: December residential sales were at 6,287, a decrease of 11.3% from the previous year.
Price: Average and median sales prices continue to outpace 2020’s figures, with positive gains. The median sales price in December was $378,000, an increase of 21.9% from last December. The average sales price was $447,000, up 19.2% from the previous year.
Supply: Atlanta area housing inventory totaled 6,852 units in December, a decrease of 22.3% from December 2020. New listings totaled 4,950, down 7.3% from December 2020 and down 21.2% from the previous month. The month’s supply over a 12-month period decreased to 1.0 months.
A Word from 2022 Atlanta REALTORS® President Karen Hatcher:
“The market cycles we’re used to seeing are now less pronounced,” notes Atlanta REALTORS® Association President Karen Hatcher. “Historically, there was a window of opportunity for buyers in November and December where inventory had a longer shelf life and buyer activity cooled slightly. But that just wasn’t the case for 2021. In fact, inventory dipped further in December to the lowest on record at a single month of supply.”
“If the December numbers give us any indication, they firm up our predictions that 2022 will continue to see prices rise,” notes Hatcher. “Interest rates are already beginning to tick upward as well, signaling the potential for at least transitory relief in buyer demand. However, this also has the downside of curbing buyers’ purchasing power, which could see more buyers, especially at lower price points, pushed out of the market entirely. For sellers, that may result in a gradual tightening of prices throughout the year. “Prices are likely to continue to increase steadily, just perhaps not as steeply,” says Hatcher, adding that the shallowing of the price growth curve may be very subtle and see price growth returning to a more normal range by the end of the year.”
The data in this report was compiled by First Multiple Listing Service (FMLS). For more information on details of this month’s report, please contact the Association at 404.250.0051.
*Each month, the numbers reported for the previous month are updated to reflect additional recordings.
