Local Market Trends November 17th, 2009
Market conditions on Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair



Summary of current market information in Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair MLS systems.



As of November 1, 2009, in the Lake Oconee area, the pace of sold properties dropped slightly from the last few months to about 11 Million last month or about 41 properties on average sold each month. Investors continue to purchase bargain priced properties and are making offers on foreclosures, bank owned properties or "short sales". The market continues to favor buyers due to the high number of properties available and low interest rates.

For Lake Oconee, 4 lake homes closed in October with only 47 total closed this year. There are still 234 lake properties currently on the market compared to a January 2009 start of 204 lake homes.

In the Lake Oconee Market, average sold to list price for all properties remains at about 89% for the year to date. We continue to see downward pressure on prices based on the last list price as motivated owners continue to reduce prices to attract buyers.

Century 21 Minchey Properties continues to out perform the Local MLS. The entire Lake Oconee MLS of 312 agents closed only 45 properties in October. Minchey Properties had 9 closings in October or 20% of the business with only 4% of all the agents. Local MLS data remains incomplete as many of Minchey Properties' client's purchases, such as some bank owned foreclosures or auctions are not included in the MLS data base.

For the entire Lake Oconee MLS, there are 2374 properties of all types ($1,036,000,000) currently for sale, down from the high of 2595 properties available in August 2008 and lower than June 2009 when 2528 properties were for sale. In October, 45 properties of all types sold and 414 have sold since January 1st, about 69% of the number and just over half of the dollar volume at this time last year.

Lake Sinclair market is also showing the effects of the downturn, with 16 lake home sales in October 2009. 339 Lake homes are currently available, compared to 399 in August 2009. Average sold to list price was 91% for the lake properties that closed in 2008 and remains the same for the 96 lake homes closed in the first ten months of this year.

For all types of properties in Lake Sinclair MLS, 745 ($106,197,000) sold in 2008, but 1846 ($366,000,000) currently remain on the market, down from last month of 1862 properties. Fifty three properties ($8,818,000) of all kinds closed in October 2009, down from 59 sold in June. A total of 418 properties have sold year to date. This is about 60% of last year's sales dollar volume at this time last year. It remains a great buyer's market because of large numbers of properties for sale.

These trends make Middle Georgia more affordable and give buyers an opportunity to make their best deals while inventories remain high and interest rates are still low. Buyers continue to contact us everyday looking for properties in this area that are priced to sell. The Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair areas are close to Atlanta, the lakes are full of water, and this area offers great golf and fishing.

Call me for details - Tom Schlesser 706 347 0795.



Note: The Lake Oconee and the Lake Sinclair Markets and MLS information overlap so there is some duplication of properties and information. We make every effort to be as accurate as possible, but cannot guarantee exact results. This information is for the discussion of Real Estate trends and is not intended to be a final compilation. Every individual transaction is unique to the parties involved and may not be representative of these summaries of transactions shown from the MLS systems. Call with questions or to discuss individual observations - Tom Schlesser 706 347 0795



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