A statewide market statistics report dubbed the Alabama Economic and Real Estate Report was announced Monday by the Alabama Association of REALTORS. The announcement came with the release of two issues, the 2022 Annual Report and the December 2022 Monthly Report.
Jeremy Walker, CEO of the Alabama Association of REALTORS, discussed the current real estate market in the state.
“Alabama housing market fundamentals remained strong in 2022, despite increasing challenges from Federal Reserve rate hikes, elevated inflation and economic uncertainty. The housing market has normalized to pre-pandemic levels last seen in 2019,” Walker said.
“Alabama’s economy and real estate market has been resilient and remains well positioned to benefit from rising job growth, low unemployment and an influx of people moving to our state in search of economic opportunity and a better quality of life.”
Highlights of the 2022 annual report include increased median and average selling prices with lower volume sold.
Alabama recorded 107,592 home sales in 2022, down 17% year over year from 2021. Overall sales continue to normalize to pre-pandemic numbers. Annual home sales in 2022 remain higher than pre-pandemic home sales in 2019 of 106,717 units.
Average selling prices increased by $15,737 to $228,434 in 2022, a 7.4% year-over-year increase since 2021. The 2022 average selling price is 35.6% above the 2019 average selling price of $168,450 Pandemic.
Average selling prices increased by 0.3% to reach $255,181 in 2022, continuing the trend of increasing annual average selling prices over the past five years. 2022 median retail prices are $50,149 higher than the pre-pandemic median retail price of 205,032 in 2019.
The total volume sold in 2022 was $27.5 billion. This is down $5.5 billion (16.7%) from 2021. Total volume sold in 2022 remains $5.6 billion (25.6%) higher than pre-pandemic total sales volume from $21.9 billion in 2019.
Foreclosure rates have increased compared to 2021 but remain below the national average, with 4,999 properties affected by foreclosures in 2022 (0.22% of all housing units), compared to 0.23% of all units nationally. Foreclosure rates statewide and in Alabama remain below pre-pandemic foreclosure rates of 2019.
The main highlights of the December report differed slightly from those of the annual report.
Alabama recorded 7,984 home sales in December, a decrease of 2,237 units (21.9%) compared to December 2021 and a decrease of 868 units (10%) compared to November 2022.
Median selling prices increased by $4,871 (2.2%) to $223,083 compared to December 2021 and decreased by $6,916 (3%) compared to November 2022.
Average selling prices decreased $15,128 (5.6%) compared to December 2021 and increased $6,598 (2.7%) compared to November 2022.
Total volume sold was $2.0 billion, a decrease of $0.7 billion (25.9%) compared to December 2021 and a decrease of $0.2 billion (9%) in comparison to November 2022.
The full annual report and the full December report are available online. A new report is published each month by the Alabama Association of REALTORS.
Austen Shipley is a senior editor at Yellowhammer News.
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