Is this a good time to buy or sell a house in Bainbridge-Decatur County?
The answer would seem to depend on whether you are the buyer, or the seller.
According to figures released January 17, 2015 by the Southwest Georgia Board of Realtors, average sales prices in the region are rising, while the median sales price has fallen slightly over the period of 2013-2014. The average price is arrived at by totaling all the sales numbers and dividing by the number of sales, while the median is derived by finding the sale in the middle of the stack, where half are higher and half lower.
The housing indicators report includes statistics for 2014 compared to 2013. The numbers show a 23 percent increase of the average sales price to $127,841; while the median sales price has had a modest (5%) decrease.
Current board president, Gail Long said she thinks the median price is down because of the many home foreclosures that occurred in 2014. That trend began to turn around in October, when more upscale houses began to sell.
All indications are that we are still in a buyers’ market, according to past board president, Bunnie Brock, who said, “We haven’t made that turn yet, where the seller can name the price and stick to it, although things are picking up.”
New listings are down by 4.3 percent, meaning the buyer has less to choose from, but with the average days on the market up 7.6 percent to 227 days, buyers may be in a position to negotiate price and terms from those whose properties have been on the market too long. “If people listing their homes will listen to their Realtor and price it right, it will sell quickly,” predicted Long.
“Everything we hear is that the banks will be relaxing their credit standards over the next year, and right now interest rates are awesome, at a new low.”
The figures in this report are derived from data obtained from the Southwest Georgia Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. This would not include FSBO properties, homes that may have been sold by the owners, or through real estate sales persons who are not members of the local board, and therefore the sales are not contracted through Board members and the MLS listings.
The indicators do give a sample of the local housing market activity and trends for Southwest Georgia, although it varies from town to town.
The Southwest Georgia Board of Realtors is a voluntary professional association of approximately 100 licensed real estate brokers and salespersons engaged in all aspects of the real estate business in Southwest Georgia, covering the counties of Decatur, Early, Grady, Miller, Mitchell, and Seminole, with the central office located in Cairo.