As you can see, we are now experiencing year over year consecutive declines. Closings for all single family have had a monthly year-to-year decline for 14 consecutive periods and 18 out of the last 20 periods.

Single family detached closed 3,564 units in April or a decline of 32.6% and condos & townhomes closed 561 units in April or a decline of 41.5%. For the year, January-April, condos and townhomes have declined 34% from January-April 2007.

The average price of homes just keeps dropping. The average price of condos & townhomes was $186,238 for closings in April. This is down 7.8% from April 2007’s $202,017 and 8.2% for year-to-date, January-April 08 versus 07.

The average price for single family detached was $240,473 for closings in April. This is down 9.0% from April 2007 and 10.1% for year-to-date, January-April 08 versus 07.

The average price for single family detached for the year is $238,496 and you would need to go back to 2002 to get an annual average that was lower than 2008’s. However, condos & townhomes average price for the year is $179,586 and you would need to go back even farther to 2001 to get an annual average that was lower than 2008’s.

There were 6,291 expired listings for all single family in April. Year-to-date there have been 25,948 expired listings for all single family or more expired listings than we had for all of 2000 (20,109). There have also been more withdrawn listings year-to-date (11,578), than there were in 2000 (9,040).

Months supply just keeps going up, as all property classifications for single family are over a year months-supply.

Is there any good news? If I was in this market to buy a home I could not have picked a better time and place, as right here in Atlanta and right now is a great time to buy a home.

Thank you,

Steve Palm

Smart Numbers © 2008 Smart Numbers