Pickens County GA Real Estate: Home Sales Data for January 2009

An inauspicious start to the new year . . .

Eleven houses currently listed as "Pending" sales for the month of January 2009, with 2 others in some form of contingency contract status, and two sold. Assuming that all pending sales and contingency contracts actually close (a rarity), that would put the total number of sales at 15 for the month. Slightly better than December's numbers -- which is usually the case for January -- but still way off when compared to the same month in previous years.

January 2008 reflected 21 homes sold in the Jasper GA / Talking Rock / Big Canoe area . . . 29% higher than this year, while January 2007, with 34 sales, came in 56% higher! (Or, this year shows a 44% decline from 2007's already slowing sales.)

With only two closings, the actual average sale price is yet to be determined, but . . . the average list price of those under contract is only $130,718, and those closed averaged only $113,500! Safe to say that we will come in under January last year's average of $188,663. Tellingly, nine of the 15 homes were bank-owned foreclosures (60%!). . .

In each of the last two months, there has been only one home placed under contract in the above $300,000 price range (both in Big Canoe, which seems to be holding its own as a percentage of total sales). Not great for those with higher-priced properties to sell.

Days on Market (DOM) is still fairly good, coming in at 86 days for those homes that did find a buyer.

None of this does much to prop up my ongoing efforts to find positive news on which to report, but the year is still young and spring is around the corner. Who knows? . . .

View my market report on Jasper / Pickens County GA home sales for all 2008 here.