When it comes to Real Estate - Ignore the Media!




Just this morning I was in a discussion with many local business owners, real estate practitioners, and community bankers about how the local real estate market seems to have been influenced by the false reporting from the media.  National and local media has been hyping a "housing bubble" for over a year now and yet our local Atlanta market seemed to be an exception to the bubble.  In Atlanta we have strong job growth, population increase, low interest rates, low cost of living and a good quality of life to offer.  We also avoided inflated appreciation and maintained a steady growth in appreciation for 10+ years.  Yet today building permits are down and new home sales are slowed. Is it because of all the bad press from media outlets about the real estate market?

Did the media cause this real estate slow down in new construction?

I stumbled an article today about how the media skews the public perception about the real estate industry

"Contrary to what you read in the media, 2007 is on track to be the 4th best real estate market in history. It may not seem so, but 2005 was the record, so coming off of that it seems as if we have come down more than we really have. Existing home sales nationally are down about 11% from the highest recorded year, so guess what… the sky has not fallen. The markets most affected by lower sales are Maryland, Nevada, California, Florida, Virginia, Washington DC and Arizona. (Investor heavy markets)."


The article goes on to explain false assumptions about the Ohio real estate market, but I wanted to take this opportunity to share some facts about our Georgia Real Estate Market from the Norton Agency and their
North Georgia’s Intelligence Market Watch:

GEORGIA’S HEALTHY HOUSING MARKET
Home prices have steadily increased as days on the market have decreased; the number of units sold has increased and multi-family building permits have increased.

Georgia Homes 2005 2006 Total
Increase
Percent
Change
Avg. Market Price (Total units sold) $154,300 $157,400 +$3,100 +1.96%
Avg. Market Price (4 bedroom home) $266,400 $288,300 +$21,900 +7.60%
Median Home Price (3 bedroom home) $139,900 $142,500 +$2,600 +1.82%
Median Home Price (4 bedroom home) $220,000 $230,600 +$10,600 +4.60%
Total Units Sold (all types) 86,321 87,951 +1,630 +1.85%
Avg. Days on Market 94.49 90.26 -4.23 -4.48%
Atlanta Single-Family Building Permits (Jan.-Oct.) 51,125 48,164 -2,961 -5.79%
Atlanta Multi-Family Building Permits (Jan.-Oct.) 9,699 12,846 +3,147 +24.50%


In summary, new home sales and starts are down in Georgia, but average sales price is up and days on market is down.  Commercial real estate continues to be steady also and Atlanta continues to rank among the best markets in the country.  Stop believing the fear tactics and start making decisions based on facts.  Now is a great time to buy real estate, especially in Georgia.

  1. Tony Gallegos

    Really nice quality local blog and website you have compiled. I look at a lot and very impressed.

  2. bradnix33

    Thanks for reading and I appreciate the compliments. It’s a labor of love and I look forward to helping this site/blog grow into a community of shared knowledge between the public, clients, customers, Realtors, and our partners.

    I checked out your site and hope you don’t mind if I steal an idea and use the feedburner scroll to promote our site also? Great Usage!

  3. Tony Gallegos

    Brad - Not a problem at all. As you said, this process truly is a labor of love.

    Again, your site is really shaping up!

  4. Gena Riede

    Brad, it would appear that from your graph the sales prices went up from 2005 to 2006.

    Media does play a roll in continuing the momentum of good or bad news.

    Real Estate is a bell curve and sooner or later one needs to expect a dip as we also expect a rise.

    Good article.

  5. bradnix33

    Here is an update about LoopNet:

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    Explore the power of Showcase Listings for more information.”

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