By Chuck Fister
Special to The Citizen

As of July 1st Fayette County Single Family listings above $300K comprised 58.7% of the active Fayette listings in the Georgia Multiple Listing Service. This percentage has remained relatively stable since I started tracking listing metrics in April 2007. During the same period, around 25% of Single Family listings in neighboring Coweta County were in the above $300K market. In both counties, sales performance of these high-end market segments is not a cause for celebration among sellers and their agents.

A relatively meager 43.6% of all June 2007 Fayette sold listings were in the above $300K market. Similarly, 18.2% of all June Coweta sold listings were in the above $300K market. Although above $300K sold listings clearly lag active listings in market share, for Fayette the June sales performance was an improvement over May and has increased steadily, albeit not markedly, over the past six months.

The good news is that the ratio of sold listings to under contract listings improved in June to 65.4%; up from 53.2% in May. This may help explain the better sales performance and could indicate a combination of fewer failed contracts and shorter closing periods. However, the ratio of sold listings to under contract listings lags by a great margin the same performance in the under $300K market where closer to 100% of under contract listings go to sold status. Simply put, the greater the under-contract listing price the more likely it will not go to sold status.

The improvement in sales of over $300K listings may not last. Listings under contract as of July 1st are down by 8.8% compared to June 1st, while active listings are up by 3.9%. That’s not good news for sellers and agents. For a listing to go to sold status it must first be under contract. Months of inventory on the market still remain high in the above $300K market segments.

Depending on the sales rate used, there are approximately nine to 12 months of unsold inventory in the $300K to $400K market, eight to 16 months of unsold inventory in the $400K to $500K market, and 16 to 22 months of unsold inventory in the over $500K market.

If you have any questions or comments about this article or would like a copy of my data analysis and listing performance evaluation for Fayette County, Coweta County or Henry County, please call or email me. Chuck Fister, REALTOR Direct: (678) 587-3425 e-mail to: chuck.fister@metrobrokers.com Chuck Fister is a REALTOR, real estate consultant and sales agent with Metro Brokers/GMAC Real Estate and works out of their Peachtree City Office.

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