Historically peak market in metro Atlanta runs from 3^rd week of January through Memorial Day weekend.  People are very surprised to find that the summer months (June and early July) are very slow.  Your typical American tends to think of the summer months as the real estate boom time, when kids are out of school and families are scurrying around trying to locate, close and unpack a home before the kids start back the next school fall.  While that may be true in other markets, Atlanta (at least the western suburbs that my team specializes in:  Cobb, Douglas, Paulding, Cherokee and Fulton counties) tends to get things under contract in the spring with closing no later than June 30.

So the million dollar question is now with the April 30 tax credit expiration, has the market prematurely ended?  While it is only the beginning of the second week of May, all indicators tend to point that way.  Although I keep a positive outlook on all things real estate and beyond, I had estimated that the spring housing rush would peak in April with a loud crescendo at month’s end leaving May with nothing but crickets chirping.  So far I am correct.  What the tax credit did was push some buyers off the fence and other buyers to rush to get under contract a month earlier.

Unfortunately in the melee of last minute scurrying buyers, a lot of things were rushed:  buyers choosing properties they didn’t necessarily love but wanted the tax credit, lenders not taking full loan apps or fully qualifying buyers.  The first week of May saw a lot of contracts falling apart much to the dismay of sellers who received multiple offers in last minute bidding scenarios with no buyers to fall back on now.

But never fear, although June tends to be one of the slower months of new activity (kids getting out of school, settling into summer routines, family vacations), historically the market picks back up a bit in July and more in August.  It has been my experience that September – November are also very strong months.

Now I realize I may be just a local Realtor but I stand strong that the worst is behind us.  The market has stabilized, data now shows the market hit bottom last summer/early fall 2009.  If we can all be a bit more patience, I see beautiful blue skies ahead!

Tags: Atlanta GA Market Conditions, Buying a home in Georgia, buying a house in ga, Georgia Real Estate Market Conditions, mls listings, Real Estate purchase

This entry was posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Buyers, Real Estate Market Conditions, Sellers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.