Home sales in the 11-county Atlanta area continued their lackluster pace in July, according to the latest analysis.

Home sales in the 11-county Atlanta region totaled 4,530 in July, which is down 2.5 percent from June and 4.9 percent from July 2013, according to the latest numbers from the Atlanta Board of Realtors.

Updated monthly, ABR’s report included numbers from Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Fayette, Henry and Paulding.

Not All Bad News for Atlanta Housing

Of course, the news was not uniformly bad in July. For one, inventory, which was at a 4.4-month supply, continued to improve (per our earlier coverage).

Additionally, though median sales price dropped 1.3 percent from June to July, settling at $227,000, it was up 7.1 percent from July 2013; meanwhile, average sales rose 2.1 percent monthly and 7.7 percent yearly to $292,000.

Todd Emerson, the current ABR president, said that though sales are down, long-term fundamentals remain good in Atlanta’s housing market.

“Overall, market conditions continue to remain favorable for a sustained and healthy real estate market in Greater Atlanta,” Emerson said. “While sales for June initially reflected a decrease in sales year over year, the updated information based on additional reported closings now reflects a slight increase over 2013.  We fully expect similar results to be reported for July of this year as well.”

“Another positive indicator,” Emerson continued, “is the number of homes for sale continues to rise, primarily due to a continuation of seller confidence.  This trend also benefits buyers in the marketplace as it presents more purchase options. The month’s supply of available inventory is now at 4.4 months, and is moving closer to what is traditionally known as a balanced market.”