Block Talk: Atlanta Q12011 Single-Family New and Resale Update

By Judy Price

This week I attended the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association’s Builder/Developer/Lender forum. This monthly roundtable event allows industry professionals an opportunity to share ideas and have an open dialogue about the real estate market. NRTDA’s very own Bob Romano was featured this week to talk about Q12011 trends. Here’s a recap of the findings:

Permits. 900+ permits pulled so far this year. The top 25 builders pulled 60% of the permits. Last year by this time, approximately 1900 permits were pulled. A glimmer of hope came up at the meeting: a lender in the group was proud to announce she was closing a construction loan this week.

Resale Single Family. Within a 6-county area* there has been a strong increase in pending resale inventory (pendings are a leading indicator to sales) the first three months of the year, just like in 2010. While this is expected because of seasonality, this year these pending sales come without the help of the tax credit. At the end of March, there were 3600 pendings in the 6-county area. The estimated months of supply is currently 9.3 months, which is down from 12 months in February. While the year got off to a slow start, velocity is increasing, just later than last. Check out the graph below:

New Homes. On the new construction single-family home side (6-county area), the data is showing a 33% increase in pending home sales from February to March. And as the inventory is being absorbed, the percentage of new construction distressed sales continue to decline year-over-year. Distressed sales were 23.8% of all sales in 2010 and so far in 2011, 17.8%.

 *Cherokee, Cobb, DeKalb, Forsyth, Fulton and Gwinnett