The Atlanta real estate situation is improving but not yet better, announced staff writer Michael Kanell of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on November 13, 2009.  The article claims that “the wave of metro Atlanta foreclosures has ebbed slightly since summer, but the levels are still cresting high enough to threaten a quick economic recovery.”  In fact, some staggering numbers have actually just recently been released.  Equity Depot claims that “nearly 107,000 foreclosure notices have been filed so far this year, including 9,427 this month” in Atlanta. While the conditions have been getting better relative to previous months, year-over-year comparisons weren’t as cheery.  “The most recent numbers show filings down 1.3 percent from October and 24 percent since September’s record high, according to Barry Bramlett, president of Equity Depot. But the month’s filings were 40 percent higher than the same month last year, 80 percent above two years ago and 146 percent higher than 2006.”

Michelle Shaw, also of the Journal-Constitution reported on November 10, 2009, that “though the median sale price of an existing single-family home in metro Atlanta remains below levels reached a year ago, quarter-over-quarter improvements continue.”  By looking at the statistics, Atlanta homes for sale did quite well with the “median price rose nearly 7 percent to $129,400 over the third quarter, from July 1 to Sept. 30, from $121,400 in the three months that ended June 30.”  However, distressed sales, foreclosures and short sales – 30 percent of sales in the third quarter – continued to weigh down median home prices.

A more positive outlook was reported by Paul Donsky in the November 12, 2009 edition of the Journal-Constitution.  According to him, real estate in Atlanta is beginning to recover as foreclosed homes begin to sell.  “The inventory of new homes in metro Atlanta has shrunk to about 11,000, down 37 percent from a year earlier, according to real estate research firm Metrostudy.”  Other improvements have also been noticed.  With prices for foreclosed homes rising, “the homes that are selling are entry-level, with prices in the low to mid-$100,000s. The homes typically sell for a loss. Lately, sale prices have been about 90 percent of loan value, he said, compared with 75 percent of loan value earlier in the crisis.”