The median residential real estate sales price across 8 metropolitan Atlanta counties posted a small gain of .6% during the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to the fourth quarter of 2008.
Although slight, this is also the first positive quarterly change in median sales prices in the last 3 years.
On the downside, the median sales price in the fourth quarter was lower than that of the third quarter of 2009 and the year finished -12.5% below 2008 and -24.6% lower than 2007.
To offer some perspective, here's a restatement of recent "sales" performance - a look at how many actually "sold:"
•Out of every 100 finalized listings, 60 failed to sell and 40 sold
•Of the 40 sold listings, 27 (67%) required a price reduction, when listing prices from previous listing periods are included, in order to attract a Buyer
•Therefore, if 60 failed due to overpricing and another 27 required a price reduction in order to sell, 87 out of every 100 listings were initially overpriced in 4Q 2009, resulting in either no sale, or a sale at a much-reduced price after a much-longer listing period.
Now, is this a momentum building?
Will 2010 reveal an overall decrease, once again?
Will 2010 be the year that the market begins a sustainable recovery?
The answer lies in pricing...a successful market turnaround will only occur when that 87% number comes down...
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