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Chief Marketing Officer with Georgia Multiple Listing Service (MLS) John Ryan is in the studio for today’s episode of Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio. Joined by co-hosts Carol Morgan and Todd Schnick, the group discusses how the 2021 housing market compares to 2020 and how the market will look for the remainder of 2021 on this All About Real Estate segment of Radio.
Ryan has been with Georgia MLS for 28 years and is responsible for the marketing side of the company, including branding, communications and membership. Ryan works to grow the membership of the company not only across the state of Georgia but also all across the Southeast.
“Having been with the company 28 years, I’ve been able to see a lot of changes really take place in the real estate industry,” said Ryan. “I’ve been able to see the rapid changes taken place over the last 10 years. This industry and this marketplace has expanded tremendously. So, that is what I try to bring to the company and try to bring to this membership.”
Georgia MLS is the state’s largest real estate marketplace, both in transactions and sales volume. It provides technology services to brokers, agents and appraisers. With over 4,000 brokerage offices and more than 45,000 agent subscribers, Georgia MLS has a large geographical footprint spanning the entire state of Georgia. Georgia MLS is also the predominant listing service in the Atlanta area.
2020 started off breaking records. Sales and transactions were up in January and February when compared with the previous year. Experts expected a steady year in the housing industry, but then the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic hit in March. At this point, no one was sure what to expect during the remainder of 2020.
As a company, Georgia MLS took a step back and tried to see the bigger pictures. Experts within the organization took steps to help maintain an active marketplace for buyers and sellers through technological, financial and political terms. To help achieve this, the company waived all brokerage fees from April through August. This was done to help alleviate financial concerns for brokers during the backlash of the pandemic. Other policies included waiving withdrawal fees due to COVID-19 concerns and extending holds. Technological fields were also added, including virtual tours.
“2020 was a record-breaking year,” said Ryan. “The market responded and we had three consecutive months of over $4 billion worth of transactions and sales volume through MLS. We had the single greatest month of sales volume in July. Really it’s a testament to how resilient to how resilient the agents and the brokers were to adapt to consumers.”
With over 135,000 transactions through Georgia MLS, 2020 saw several record-breaking statistics. Transactions were up 8.8% year-over-year. Even more, over $40 billion in transactions occurred in 2020, most of which were done virtually.
While the 2020 numbers were impressive, the trends continue with even more gusto in 2021. The first two months of 2021 saw even higher numbers than January and February of 2020. If trends continue, 2021 should be a fantastic year for the real estate industry.
Another trend Georgia MLS notes is the median home price. Increasing almost $25,000 to $280,000, the median home price in the Atlanta area is up more than 9% across Georgia. In January, there was a slight down-tick in median sales price, but that number is expected to rise again as the year goes on due to the low housing inventory.
The number of active residential listings in January 2021 versus January 2020 is down 109%. Currently, Georiga MLS reports on eight different property types. Across all property types, there are 25,663 listings available. Of these listings, 10,000 are residential, 8,200 of which are available. This is down severely from January 2020 which saw close to 19,000 available listings.
To learn more about Georgia Multiple Listing Services and Ryan’s predictions for the 2021 housing market, listen to the full interview above. You can also visit www.georgiamls.com.
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Georgia Residential Mortgage Licensee, License #22564. NMLS ID #6606. Subject to borrower and property qualifications. Not all applicants will qualify. New American Funding and Georgia Multiple Listing Service are not associated. Click here to view the terms and conditions of the products mentioned during the show. Corporate office 14511 Myford Rd., Suite 100, Tustin, CA 92780. Phone: (800) 450-2010. (March/2021)
New American Funding is a family-owned mortgage lender with a servicing portfolio of over 123,000 loans for $30.4 billion, 198 branches, and about 3,100 employees. The company offers several niche loan products and has made Inc. 5000’s list of Fastest-Growing Companies in America six times. It has a state-of-the-art career training facility and develops innovative technology, including the GoGo LO mobile application. For more information, visit www.branch.newamericanfunding.com/Atlanta.
The Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio “All About Real Estate” segment, presented by Denim Marketing, highlights the movers and shakers in the Atlanta real estate industry – the home builders, developers, Realtors and suppliers working to provide the American dream for Atlantans. For more information on how you can be featured as a guest, contact Denim Marketing at 770-383-3360 or fill out the Atlanta Real Estate Forum contact form. Subscribe to the Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio podcast on iTunes, and if you like this week’s show, be sure to rate it.
