Summer home-buying season is in full force, and home sales are heating up in Atlanta.
During the first week of June, national housing demand was up 25% from pre-pandemic levels, according to Redfin. Pending home sales in the Atlanta market mirrored that trend, up 20% for the first week of June 2020 compared to June 2019, according to a new report from MarketNsight.
“New pending home sales in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast started the year strong, experienced a six-week deficit due to the coronavirus, and now have had a six-week surplus (over last year) following Georgia (and other states) lifting the sheltering-in-place order,” MarketNsight Principal John Hunt said. “During the shutdown, people shopped online and then bought once Georgia opened up.”
“This is what we call pent-up demand,” Hunt continued. “Builder concessions in May brought the average new home price down 5% year over year but that yielded an increased sales rate of 30% year over year.”
Pent-up demand is most likely coming from the homebuyers who pressed pause during the pandemic and those who can’t get into a home because of the record low inventory levels.
New pending home sales hit a peak in the first week of March, according to MarketNsight. The following week, when the effects of the pandemic began to set in, it started to plummet.
The third week of April showed signs of rebound, then shot back up during the fourth week of April.
For January through May 2020, pending sales are up 6% over the same time period the year before.
