Saturday, July 18, 2009

Oconee County, GA Real Estate Trends and Market Stats

In this post I will be dealing with West Oconee, GA specifically. This area of the county includes Ashland, Bear Creek, Bogart, Cobblestone Park, Deerwood Estates, Lane Creek Plantation, Mallard Lakes, Oconee Crossing, Planter’s Ridge, Power Ridge, Rocky Branch Farms, The Georgia Club, and every other neighborhood that I didn’t mention in Bogart and Bishop, GA! images-1

As part of my job I try and keep up with market trends for the area. One way that I feel I can accurately achieve this is through not only looking at a 12-month glimpse of residential home sales, but also looking at a month to month comparison of these sales taking into account a “rolling” 12-month perspective. What we see in our current West Oconee market is the following;



West Oconee





Yr Ending

DOM

Average


Median


# sold

1-Jun-08

216

275,841


246,000


146

1-Jul-08

215

273,702


239,400


150

1-Aug-08

219

272,041


236,750


153

1-Sep-08

228

269,728


236,750


147

1-Oct-08

228

274,053


246,000


139

1-Nov-08

231

269,791


237,450


128

1-Dec-08

228

273,065


242,450


128

1-Jan-09

240

271,790


237,450


127

1-Feb-09

238

269,326


237,425


134

1-Mar-09

230

263,368


234,750


133

1-Apr-09

235

265,010


234,088


134

1-May-09

245

260,463


231,675


119

1-Jun-09

262

270,819


238,175


114

What this chart shows is that in each of the last 12 “twelve-month” periods (1-Jun-07 thru 1-Jun-08 and so on) we have had an increase in DOM (Days on Market) from 216 days to 262 days for the year ending June 1, 2009 and decreases in the “number” of homes sold by 22 percent.

images-2Contrary however to the media’s press on the fabled “national real estate market,” in West Oconee, GA the average and median prices on homes sold has only dropped slightly less than 2 percent from year end 1-Jun-08 to 1-Jun-09. Again, this is not “just” a glimpse into the past year, but also a view into each successive 12-month period going back over a year. Home prices actually seem to be going “up” since the year ending March 1, 2009.

What we see however in West Oconee is “similar” to Watkinsville and Oconee overall, but better. Watkinsville has seen an increase in Days on Market from 184 days to 191. Numbers of residential home sales has decreased however by 42 percent. Prices also seem to be slightly up since the year end June 2008, but down since the year ending February 2009. Oconee County on the whole has seen a 10 percent increase in Days on Market and a 30 percent decrease in the numbers of homes sold. This mirrors Athens-Clarke pretty well.

Overall this defies the economics we learned in school. High inventory, high Days on Market, and reduced numbers of units sold should bring prices down. I guess this is something in which we can be thankful. images

Finally, in the Greater Athens area foreclosures and pre-foreclosures, according to Trulia.com, make up “only” 8-10% of listings for sale. Compare this to 42% of Atlanta listings are distressed sales. This is in my belief why we don’t see such a drastic drop in prices in the Greater Athens area as opposed to Atlanta and other larger metro areas.

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years! If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today! On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

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