Despite a rough November, Atlanta’s housing market kept pace in 2015

Home sales in the Metro Atlanta housing market posted steep declines from October to November, falling 24.7 percent from 4,056 to 3,056, according to the latest report from the Atlanta Board of Realtors.

That seasonal decline, though, was not consistent with the remaining facets of ABR’s report, a point that association President Ennis Antoine made in his comments.

“School, weather and the holidays all have an impact on the total number of sales and inventory going into the winter season,” Antoine said. “What we are experiencing is a historically normal housing market in the fall. Average and median sales prices remain firm, continuing to increase in comparison to 2014 and also up from the previous month. As prices continue to rise, it will encourage more sellers to enter the market.”

Antoine also mentioned recent realtor.com reports that have rated Metro Atlanta as one of 2016’s top housing markets.

Atlanta Housing in November

Despite the aforementioned monthly declines, Atlanta home sales were only 0.1 percent below where they were in Nov. 2014, and year to date, sales in 2015 remain 5.81 percent ahead of where they were a year ago. Here is a line graph that compares 2014’s sales to those of this year:

Along with home sales, housing inventory also showed seasonal declines. Totaling 15,220 units (or a 3.6-month supply), November’s inventory was down 1.7 percent from Nov. 2014, while new listings, at 3,473, was down 0.8 percent yearly and 23.3 percent monthly.

Home prices, meanwhile, continued to rise. The median sales price finished November at $224,000, a 2.8 percent increase from October and 9.3 percent increase from Nov. 2014; meanwhile, the average sales price, which was $283,000, rose 4 percent monthly and 7.2 percent yearly.

County-by-County Home Sales in Metro Atlanta

For the second month in a row, ABR included sales numbers for Metro Atlanta’s most populous counties. Here is now the numbers broke down:

•Gwinnett County saw the most home sales with 642, followed by Fulton with 588, Cobb with 529 and DeKalb with 423.

•Consistent with the metro area, sales were down in all the counties, falling 23.39 percent in Gwinnett, 24.54 percent in Cobb, 18.97 percent in DeKalb and 18.11 percent in Fulton.

•Finally, home prices were inconsistent. Although median sales prices fell in Gwinnett (down 1.5 percent) and DeKalb (down 7.8 percent), they rose in Cobb (up 3.7 percent) and Fulton (up 2.4 percent).