DeKalb home prices fall 27%

DeKalb home prices fall 27%

By KIRSTEN TAGAMI, TY TAGAMI

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Average home prices in DeKalb County plummeted 27 percent last month, compared with December 2007, largely because of a growing number of foreclosures.

The average sales price for single family homes declined from $208,671 in December 2007 to $151,935 last month, according to a report by the DeKalb Association of Realtors.
We have had a lot of investors out there grabbing foreclosures,” said Sharon Nelson, the association’s president.

DeKalb’s price decline is worse than the overall metro Atlanta drop of about 13 percent last year. Home prices in the county were dragged down by a rash of foreclosures in south DeKalb, said Tal Kramer, a real estate agent with ReMax Communities.

“It has one of the highest percentages of foreclosures going on,” Kramer said.

The part of DeKalb that saw the biggest drop in average price for the entire year, almost 45 percent, was near the Scottdale area, in the 30079 zip code. Belvedere Park, the 30032 zip code near Avondale Estates, had the second-biggest drop in value for the year, of almost 40 percent, said Kramer, who analyzed sales activity in all areas of DeKalb.

AJC full story