March 14, 2008
Cherokee Trinune
Ashley Fuller
Cherokee County home sales increased in February, and local Realtors said they are optimistic about the upward swing.
Despite the growth last month, home sales still are lagging well behind last year’s pace.
There were 143 home sales reported in the county in February as of Thursday, according to the First Multiple Listing Service, a data services provider for real estate professionals.
The total is up from 131 home sales reported in January but way down from 318 in February of last year.
Fred Tucker, an agent with ERA Sunrise Realty in Canton, said the February total could climb higher as some sales are not reported right away.
Cristal Stancil of Century 21 Max Stancil Realty in Woodstock said last month’s uptick in sales is “encouraging.”
“It has been a lot better month,” she said. “Typically, starting into the spring, sales get a little better. The weather has been really good and that is when people get out and get excited about buying.”
She said an important factor is to make sure houses are priced just right.
“We are concentrating on putting houses on the market that are priced correctly,” she said.
Sales so far this year still trail the pace from last year. There have been 273 home sales reported in the county this year, a drop from 513 reported through February of last year.
The average sale price of a house in the county last month was $226,602, a drop from the average sale price in February last year of $248,800. The average sale price in January was $254,880.
The number of new listings on the market decreased last month.
There were 721 new listings in the county in February, down from 847 in January and down a little bit from 746 in February last year.
So far this year, there have been 1,568 new listing in the county, a slight drop from 1,624 new listings at this time last year.
Tucker said the February home sales results are encouraging but a total upward trend may not happen until spring of next year.
“It could be up, down, up, down for a few months,” said Tucker, former president of the Cherokee Association of Realtors. “Downturns last about two to three years and this one started as early as 2005 in some places. We will be coming out in the future. People have to have a place to live.”
Diane Galvin, president-elect of the local Realtor association, said her “fingers are crossed” about the future of home sales in the coming months.
“We are seeing more activity, both in the amount of homes being shown and in the number of contracts being written,” she said.