Click here to view or print the entire monthly report compliments of the ACRE Corporate Cabinet.

Sales: Lake Martin area residential sales totaled 61units during August, unchanged from the same period last year. Home sales are up 60 percent from the sales trough of 38 during 2008. Another resource to review is the Annual Report.

For all of Lake Martin’s area housing data, click here.

Home sales at Lake Martin rose 17 percent from July.

Forecast: August sales were right on target with the Alabama Center for Real Estate’s monthly forecast. ACRE’s year-to-date sales forecast through August projected 387 closed transactions, while the actual sales were 329 units.

Supply: The Lake Martin area housing inventory in August was 451 units, a decrease of 9.4 percent from a year ago and 45 percent below the August peak in 2008 of 820 units (this is good news). August inventory decreased by 5 percent from the prior month. This direction is consistent with historical data indicating that August inventory on average (2011-15) decreases from July by 5.2 percent. There were 7.4 months of housing supply in August (6 months is considered equilibrium in August), a decrease of 9.4 percent from last August’s 8.2 months of supply.

Demand: Residential sales increased 17 percent from the prior month. This direction is consistent with seasonal patterns and historical data indicating August sales on average (2011-15) increase by 34 percent from July.

Pricing: The Lake Martin area median sales price in August was $265,000, a decrease of 8.6 percent from August 2015 and a 7 percent decrease compared to the prior month. Historical data indicate that the August median sales price (2011-15) typically increases 23 percent from July. Pricing can and will fluctuate from month to month because of changing composition of actual sales (lakefront vs. non-lakefront) and the sample size of data (closed transactions) being subject to seasonal buying patterns. ACRE recommends contacting a local real estate professional for additional market pricing information.

Industry perspective: “Consumers have a fairly optimistic 12-month outlook on housing at the end of the summer home-buying season, supported by increased job confidence and more favorable expectations regarding their personal financial situations compared with this time last year,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “The return to a slight upward trend in the HPSI during the spring and summer is, thus far, in line with our forecast, which calls for 4 percent growth in home sales in 2016 to the best level since 2006 and continued improvement for 2017.” For the full report, click here.

Click here to generate more graphs from the Lake Martin area August Housing Report, including Total Sales, Average Sales Price, Days on the Market, Total Inventory and Months of Supply. 

The Lake Martin Residential Monthly Report is developed in conjunction with the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors to better serve area consumers.