MarketNsight recently announced new pending home sales in the Atlanta market are up 31% for May 2020 versus May the year before. In fact, new pending home sales went positive year-to-year in the fourth week of April and have continued to improve. For January through May 2020, pending sales are up 6% over the same time period the year before.
“New pending home sales aren’t just up in Atlanta, they are up for most of the cities in our 26-city Southeastern footprint,” MarketNsight Principal John Hunt said. “This isn’t information you are going to read in the news, we’ve been ahead of everyone by a minimum of three weeks with our analysis and data!”
For example, results for Raleigh, North Carolina show that North Carolina COVID-19 (coronavirus) cases started later in Raleigh than Atlanta and still do not seem to have peaked. However, new pending home sales bottomed in the second week of April and have been positive year-to-year since.
The extreme lack of resale inventory, exacerbated by the pandemic, pushed buyers to new construction.
“Atlanta new home construction continues to perform better year-to-year than resale,” Hunt said. “As to how, why and how long, those answers will come over time. I believe there is more here than just pent-up demand from April, historically low interest rates, historically low inventory and a job loss mix favorable to new homes and housing in general.
“We may be seeing a shift that many in our industry predicted would happen as early as 2014 but did not. As I have said many times before, we are in uncharted territory to be sure.”
MarketNsight will explore these topics, as well as opinions on current events, and give its forecast at MarketWatch Atlanta on Thursday, June 11, 2020, at 10 a.m. To join the event featuring John Hunt and Dr. Rajeev Dhawan, make sure to register.
MarketNSight is focused on helping home builders and developers make smart decisions related to purchasing land and pricing product. Its groundbreaking Feasibility Matrix® systemizes the decision-making process and creates a one-stop-shop for gauging new home community feasibility including ranking by builder and subdivision and developed lot and raw land sales.
To learn more or to schedule a demonstration, visit www.MarketNsight.com.