MarketNsight recently hosted its biannual MarketWatch Atlanta event releasing data on the state of the Atlanta new home industry to a crowd of more than 400 home builders, developers, bankers, Realtors and others in the industry. MarketNsight and ViaSearch President John Hunt gave an overview of the Atlanta housing market and shared predictions for the remainder of the year.

At the latest MarketWatch Atlanta, Hunt highlighted that Atlanta new home sales are up 12% May 2019 over last May.

“In fact, in the first half of May 2019, Atlanta home builders had already sold as many new homes as all of last May,” Hunt said.

Although Atlanta metro is experiencing bigger job growth, 50% less new homes are selling than the old normal.

“You have heard this before; we are missing all of the first-time buyers. They are buying resale or just not buying yet,” Hunt said. “We have to get them to a price they can afford. They have shown us what they will pay monthly in rent. We need to build something they can buy for the equivalent price.”

To reach first-time buyers, builders must build smaller and closer into the cities where millennials want to be. Homebuyers will still drive until they can buy, especially for schools. Suburban new home sales remain steady, especially in certain popular high school districts. West Forsyth, North Forsyth, North Paulding, East Coweta, Cherokee, Creekside – South Fulton, Forsyth Central, Sequoyah – Cherokee, Dacula – Gwinnett, Arche – Gwinnett, Apalachee – Barrow,  Westlake – South Fulton, Lovejoy – Clayton, Jackson County and East Paulding high schools claim the top spots.

Interest rates have a direct effect on new home sales. Hunt’s prediction for the remainder of the year is that long term sales moderation will continue. However, the good news is that the Atlanta market has recovered from the Q4 2018 and Q1 2019 devastation caused by the interest rate hike that slowed sales and kept potential buyers out of the market.

Perhaps some of the best news at the event came from Dr. Rajeev Dhawan who predicts that there will not be any more interest rate hikes for this year and that there might be a rate cut in December.

MarketNsight is focused on helping homebuilders 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 about the next MarketWatch event or to schedule a demonstration, visit www.MarketNsight.com.