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

Sales: Lake Martin area residential sales totaled 61 units during September, up by 5 units or 9 percent from the same month in 2016, when sales in the area totaled 56. Year to date, area sales are up 35 percent from the same period in 2016. Another resource to review is the Annual Report.

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

Forecast: September sales were 5 units or 17.3 percent above the Alabama Center for Real Estate’s monthly forecast. ACRE’s sales forecast through September projected 420 closed transactions, while the actual sales were 520 units.

Supply: The Lake Martin area housing inventory in September was 406 units, a decrease of 7.1 percent from a year earlier. September inventory decreased by 5.6 percent from the prior month. This direction contrasts with historical data indicating that September inventory on average (2012-16) decreases from August by 6.1 percent. There was 5.7 months of housing supply in September (6 months is considered equilibrium), a decrease of 5.6 percent from last September’s 7.4 months of supply.

Demand: Residential sales decreased 14 units or 18.7 percent from the prior month.

Pricing: The Lake Martin area median sales price in September was $349,000, a decrease of 5.4 percent from September 2016. 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: “The impacts from this season’s hurricanes on the U.S. economy were wide-ranging but should dissipate over time. These include the loss of momentum in consumer spending and residential investment, as well as a decline in September payrolls and August home sales and contract signings,” said Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan. “We expect economic activity to rebound in coming months. The recovery will likely be slower for home sales and home building, however, as the labor shortage and rising material prices will likely worsen after the hurricanes, exacerbating already-tight inventory. While we expect full-year economic growth for 2017 to come in at the same rate projected in our prior forecast, we now believe that total home sales will be essentially flat this year compared with the moderate rise predicted in the prior forecast. Despite muted underlying inflation, we continue to expect the Fed to raise rates for the third time this year in December.”

Click here to generate more graphs from the Lake Martin area September 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.