Lawrenceville, GA Market Report, August 2013

Market stats for Lawrenceville, GA, August, 2013, indicate that there were 665 properties on the market, up 21 from last month. Overall, there was about a 3.2 month supply of properties. In 2012, sales for August were at 308, so 207 sales was a big decrease, year over year. Last month’s sales were at 212. But, coupled with the decrease in inventory, things are still looking reasonably good. Normally the market picks up from January-February through about June-August. This month we are OK, but some are arguing that constrained inventories are still holding back sales or we could be looking even better.

English: Gwinnett County Historic Courthouse, Lawrenceville GA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For Lawrenceville, GA, Homes Under $200k, there are 449 listings, with about a 2.7 month supply of homes. Sales were down from August, 2012 (171 v 275), although sales may very well be off because of constrained inventories. Last year in this segment, there were over 700 listings v under 450 now. This segment is easily the lion’s share of sales for the area. With the 2.67 month A/R, it is solidly in Seller’s Market territory. The low Absorption Rate (AR) is due to very strong sales, coupled with dramatically lower listing inventories. Month over month sales were up from 165 last month.

Between $200k and $400k, there are 183 listings for sale, and about 4.8 months of supply. Oddly, this had one of the mid-pack segments in the county, now it’s on the weak side. The 33 sales for August, 2013 was well under the 42 from last month, but a bit better than the 29 sales last year. We are barely into Buyer’s Market territory here… again. Month to month there is a lot of volatility, but over the longer term, it is WAY better than it had been.

From $400k to $600k, there are 23 homes on the market. The absorption rate is around 6.9 months. However, with the level of sales in this segment, a couple of sales added or subtracted can have a HUGE impact. There were 3 sales for August, the Absorption Rate has dropped from 78 months June11, through good, but sporadic sales. This is acting like a luxury market and the A/R is jumping all over the place… with just a few sales (A/R was 25.5 four months ago). While the long term trend was looking a little better, now it is still pretty choppy.

In the $600k to $800k arena, there are 7 listings, with about 21 months of supply. As with the next lower priced segment, a couple of sales makes a big difference and there were 0 sales in August. There were only 6 sales at this level in all of 2011. There were 4 sales in 2012. May and July booked the only previous sales so far in 2013.

Between $800k and $1M, and Above $1M there are 3 homes listed (combined) and not enough sales data to give an accurate absorption rate. Until this month, there had only been one sale in this range in the last 3 years (Aug, 2010), according to FMLS. But, there was 1 sale in July 12. It was over $1M, if that makes a difference…

English: A view of the Aurora Theatre from Pike Street in Lawrenceville Georgia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lawrenceville is in Gwinnett County, GA, just outside of Atlanta. As of the 2000 Census, there were 22,937 people in Lawrenceville, but that is only including people in the city limits, and there has been a lot of growth since 2000 in Gwinnett County (2008 estimates from the Census Bureau peg population around 29,000). It was incorporated in 1821. Lawrenceville is home to Central Gwinnett High School, and also has students that the Mountain View and Archer clusters. It is also home to Gwinnett Technical College and Georgia Gwinnett College. Another recent addition to Lawrenceville is that it is home to the Gwinnett Braves, playing at the Gwinnett Stadium on GA20 between I-85 and GA316. Possibly the most famous resident of Lawrenceville was Oliver Hardy. As a small boy he lived in Lawrenceville with his parents for a short time. Lawrenceville was also home to Junior Samples. Some of its other residents included Jeff Francouer, Brian McCann and Jennifer Ferrin.