About Sandy Springs reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2022)
REAL ESTATE What’s ahead for Sandy Springs’ housing market? Home prices soared last year, up as much as 20%. Will 2022 be an other strong year for the real es tate market? We asked local real tors to share their predictions for this year. (Compiled and edited by Amy Wenk and Kathy Dean) Cynthia Lippert President, Atlanta Realtors Association With 2021 drawing to a close, many re altors will have already devel oped their 2022 business plans. Here are some of the predic tions informing the strategy for how best to serve their clients in the next 12 months. Interest rates are expected to rise in 2022. Economic indicators have been said by several industry sources to sig nal mortgage rate increases, though opinions on when and by how much are widely varied. But realtors are advising buyers that, in addition to higher pric es, which are expected to continue rising throughout 2022, even a small increase in rates will have an impact on purchase power. Waiting it out may not pay off in the long run. Price increases will continue but pos sibly less steeply in 2021. The message for sellers is that if 2021 wasn’t the year to sell, 2022 is. The seemingly unstoppable rise in home prices has netted huge gains for sellers, leaving many wondering how much longer until we reached the top of the market. Sellers still have big gains to rake in over the next few months. How ever, sustained inflation, continued pan demic uncertainty, and the potential for rising interest rates could well under mine buyer demand and slow down that growth. And while we still don’t predict a housing bubble, a gradual rebalanc ing could make bidding wars and offers over list price less of the norm that sell ers have come to expect towards the end of the year. The inner suburbs of Atlanta, includ ing Sandy Springs, Buckhead, Brookhav- en, and Dunwoody will continue to be extremely popular. These areas have his torically attracted buyers seeking the perfect balance between intown conve nience and a strong community vibe. And as inventory has become more scarce in the last 24 months, it’s only in- $460,000 $345,000 $230,000 $115,000 $0 Metro Atlanta Home Prices (11-county area) $372,000 I $306,000 Average Sales Price Median Sales Price | November 2021 November 2020 Source: Atlanta Realtors Association $445,000 ■ $373,500 creased the popularity of these sought after communities. However, rising in terest rates may undermine purchase power, putting downward pressure on higher priced listings. Predicting the market is a science of broad strokes, given how many factors influence our industry. And as we’ve seen play out in the last couple of years, it only takes a shift in one of those factors to make a big difference in the outcomes. For example, the way the real estate mar ket responded to the pandemic was real ly fascinating and impossible to have an ticipated. And with so many other factors at play, such as global trade, politics, and of course the effect of an evolving pan demic, the best thing we can do is contin ue to serve our clients’ needs even as they change. The single most important thing buyers and sellers can do is consult with a realtor to understand how these fac tors are impacting their market at the lo cal level. After be ing in the busi ness for many years now, I usually have a good sense of the market and the direction it is headed, but there is nothing normal about the market we experienced last year. The pandemic caused an unusual disruption Karen Cannon Karen Cannon Realtors to the real estate market, and changed up what buyers usually look for in their homes. Based upon what we are seeing now and predictions from market ex perts, we expect prices to level off some as inventory slowly increases. Prices are still very strong and multiple offers are common. Albeit, buyer fatigue is starting to set in as buyers are becoming weary of the bidding wars, getting beat out or pay ing far more than what was “market val ue” just a short time ago. Homes that are renovated and move- in ready still hold the strongest prices. For a buyer to renovate a home right now with the increased cost of building mate rials and supply chain issues can be too intimidating and risky. Because of this, new construction is doing very well and getting the strongest prices. While low inventory is the main driv er of the current market, we do sense a shift lurking over the horizon but it’s hard to predict how and when it might play out. There is too much of an im balance of buyers to homes available so I don’t anticipate anything drastic hap pening anytime soon. Interest rates are expected to rise, although they will still be historically low. Even so, even if rates increase a half percent, it significantly af fects buying power. Nevertheless, we are still committed, no matter the state of the market, to help ing our buyers find homes and getting sellers’ homes in front of the right buy ers. 16 JANUARY 202Z| REPORTER NEWSPAPERS reporternewspapers.com ss
