Just like interest rates, housing prices have begun to stabilize. There are two reasons why this has happened:
-
- Inventory levels have gone up rather significantly.
-
- Interest rates have not fallen much at all from their all-time high.
In Metro Atlanta, active listings jumped 9,367 or 10.2% month over month in June. Year over year inventory rose 45%, creating a more balanced market. The supply of homes on the market is around 4.5 months, a balanced market is typically thought to be around six months. This is much improved since the post-pandemic, where it was running typically in the two-month range for less. This is important when you think about the implications for all buyers and sellers in this market.
If you are in the market to purchase, you will have more to choose from and can take more time to negotiate. Inspection and appraisal contingencies are now the norm. Seller concessions are happening again. For sellers, proper pricing is critical. The rising supply means overpricing can lead to longer listing times and possible price reductions. Sales are still solid, but slower. Days on the market have increased to about 50 days, a large increase from the pandemic peak where it was around 15 days. This increase suggests that buyers now have more time to make offers, inspections and decisions while sellers should be realistic and possibly adjust pricing strategies.
Make sure and reach out to us if you are considering buying or selling. We are seeing so many unique circumstances and have so many creative solutions to get you from one house to another or out of a rental and into a home for the first time. As an example, later in this newsletter you will read about the Georgia Dream program (down-payment assistance for homebuyers). In addition, bridge loans that help you tap your equity for the down payment on a new loan while you transition. The newest is a very simplistic renovation loan that allows you to spend up to $75,000 on updating and sprucing up a home you may be looking at that needs some tender loving care. This can include bathrooms, kitchens, flooring, paint and anything that is not structural in nature. The simplistic nature of this loan allows you to shop for a home through a different lens. This opens the door to preview homes that you otherwise may have passed up. This can be extremely helpful if you are looking at a home that is well located but slightly dated.
In summary, having a conversation up front so we can totally understand your goals and objectives can allow us to focus on solutions that will put you in the best possible position to either buy or sell.
Program of the Month
Georgia Dream – A New and Improved Down Payment Assistance Program for Georgia Homebuyers
If you’re hoping to buy a home in Georgia but have found the down payment as the biggest obstacle, there is a new option you should be aware of. The Georgia Dream program is a fresh take on down payment assistance designed to help more people become homeowners without having to come up with a huge amount of cash up front. The program offers up to 5% in down payment and closing cost assistance and is open to both first-time and repeat buyers. What’s new is that this program provides higher income limits and higher home price limits than in the traditional program. Specifically, it allows for household income up to 150% of the area median income. In most Metro Atlanta counties, the 2025 limit is $170,250 gross annual income. At home prices can be as high as $650,000. Typically, we would structure this with a 97% first mortgage and a second mortgage up to 5% (which can include 2% for closing costs). The second mortgage is deferred for up to 30 years at 0% interest and is only repayable when you refinance or sell the home. If this sounds like something that might work for you, let’s talk. The program isn’t the right fit for everyone, but it could be exactly what you need to make homeownership possible this year!
Interest Rate Update
Mortgage interest rates have barely budged since the beginning of the year. We started out in January with rates hovering right around 7% and they have fluctuated since then between the mid sixes and high sixes. Typically, we would have seen the Federal Reserve move to lower interest rates with tame inflation numbers coming in for the past three months. Unfortunately, they are hesitant to make this move because of the uncertainty over the Trump administration’s tariff policies. It is not likely that we will see any movement on this front before their September meeting at the earliest. Therefore, rates will likely stay in a tight range until there is more clarity with the inflation and jobs numbers. The wild card is the unemployment numbers. If we were to see a deterioration of this metric, you may see the Federal Reserve accelerate their interest rate cuts.
