ATLANTA, GA - The fall market began before fall even started this year for Beacham & Company, REALTORS. The number of sales and dollar volume sold by the firm’s agents was up 25% in September, making it the best September ever in the history of the 11-year-old company and keeping it on track for another record sales year.
Like the broader market, Beacham was boosted by sales in Buckhead and Cobb County, where the East Cobb and Smyrna areas remain as hot as they have all year long. The sales picture for the entire Atlanta market in September was not as rosy, however. The number of attached and detached single family home sales in the five-county metro (Cobb, DeKalb, Forsyth, Fulton and Gwinnett) was down 6.8% in September from the previous year, while closed dollar volume was down 1.8%. Areas that have been strong but weakened in September include Ashford Park, Dunwoody and North Fulton County.
Housing inventory has creeped upward as the year has progressed. The months’ supply of inventory in the five metro counties is now 4.6 months with most of the increase in the $200,000-$750,000 range (see accompanying chart). Inventory remains significantly elevated among homes priced $750,000 or more.
Agents who have been in the business for years talk about how uneven and difficult to encapsulate the market is right now. They say buyers are more value conscious than ever even in the luxury market, negotiations are often more tense than in the past, silly lending challenges persist and the percentage of deal fall out is higher than the traditional norm.
Firms that price homes correctly from the initial listing phase are the firms who have done well this fall. For its part, Beacham & Company spends lots of energy making sure its agents are knowledgeable about the market and how the market is changing from month-to-month. In regular agent coaching sessions, Beacham agents review non-Beacham listings that have expired, a collaborative exercise that always reveals a clear reason why a property didn’t sell before expiration (usually because of price, but frequently poor marketing as well). It also reveals when buyers paid too much for a property. Often, unrepresented buyer or buyers represented by discount brokerages (including luxury discount brokerages) are involved.
Looking ahead, Beacham predicts continued strong sales to finish the year. The firm’s website experienced an unseasonal surge in activity this summer which foretold the firm’s record fall sales. Website activity has remained elevated and the firm’s pending sales for October are up 20% over the previous October record lead by more new listings in September than any previous September in company history.
About Beacham & Company, REALTORS
Beacham & Company, REALTORS is Atlanta’s top-selling luxury real estate office. The firm was founded in 2006 by Glennis Beacham, one of Atlanta’s most celebrated real estate agents. The company sells nearly $1 billion in real estate annually among its 100 agents who are the most productive in the state by dollar volume sold.