ATL Perimeter
April 29th, 2006, 04:28 PM
Please post News on CRE, Condos, and Homebuilding
The Spire has crashed in the Atlanta Midtown condo market . Just opened Spire, a 28-story building with 388 condos has 104 units on the market--26% vacant. The Bubble has burst.
The builder, Novare, sold out Spire quickly, after enjoying great success in 2002 with the 498-unit Metropolis across the street, but Spire's 96 resellers (flippers?) and 6 owners hoping to rent out their units are in deep trouble.
Prices range from $167k to $768k for 1 & 2bedroom units.
http://ianmarshall.mlsb.com/mls/results_fields.cfm?ClientID=2671&SearchType=Address&HOUSE_NUMB=860&STREET_NAM=peachtree&CITY_NAME=%276198%27
New stuff sells in Atlanta because Atlantans are willing to pay a premium for the latest & greatest--but as Metropolis resellers are finding out--that premium doesn't last long.
Is Atlanta's condo market is going to have a soft landing? New buildings are probably going to do well--just not as well as before. But existing condo owners inside the Perimeter can forget about making a fast buck. In fact, Fulton County property records show that many condo dwellers will lose money. Many had to sell for 10 to 15 percent less than what they paid if they purchased at inflated prices during the 1999-2001 period.
The problem with many condo buyers is that their purchasing decision is based on what they can afford for a monthly payment instead of a realistic resale value 2 to 4 years later. Many find that prices declined two years later instead of rising.
Not to speak of the rest of ATL--just the Midtown area has no less than 1,000 units coming on line and several thousand in the planning stages. Let’s name a few mega projects: Atlantic Station, Plaza Midtown, Centennial Park, Onyx, Aqua, 13th St conversion, and we’re not even considering all the new supply in Buckhead and elsewhere inside the Perimeter.
The resell market for condos is really bad. High interest rates are pushing out marginal buyers and condo speculators.
Who’s hiring? Who’s relocating here beside Louisiana evacuees? Tourism payrolls got a big boost from New Orleans’s woes—we got evacuees in hotels and conventions that relocated here. Ticker counters can’t afford a Midtown condo.
Midtown white-collar condo-paying jobs are booming right? No. Atlanta has a great long-term future, but the short-term is dismal. Besides the announced closure of Ft. McPherson, there are mergers, layoffs, and shutdowns affecting GM, Ford, ATT/Bellsouth, Cingular, Hewlett Packard, Delta—just to name a few. Granted, auto workers don’t live in Midtown.
The Spire has crashed in the Atlanta Midtown condo market . Just opened Spire, a 28-story building with 388 condos has 104 units on the market--26% vacant. The Bubble has burst.
The builder, Novare, sold out Spire quickly, after enjoying great success in 2002 with the 498-unit Metropolis across the street, but Spire's 96 resellers (flippers?) and 6 owners hoping to rent out their units are in deep trouble.
Prices range from $167k to $768k for 1 & 2bedroom units.
http://ianmarshall.mlsb.com/mls/results_fields.cfm?ClientID=2671&SearchType=Address&HOUSE_NUMB=860&STREET_NAM=peachtree&CITY_NAME=%276198%27
New stuff sells in Atlanta because Atlantans are willing to pay a premium for the latest & greatest--but as Metropolis resellers are finding out--that premium doesn't last long.
Is Atlanta's condo market is going to have a soft landing? New buildings are probably going to do well--just not as well as before. But existing condo owners inside the Perimeter can forget about making a fast buck. In fact, Fulton County property records show that many condo dwellers will lose money. Many had to sell for 10 to 15 percent less than what they paid if they purchased at inflated prices during the 1999-2001 period.
The problem with many condo buyers is that their purchasing decision is based on what they can afford for a monthly payment instead of a realistic resale value 2 to 4 years later. Many find that prices declined two years later instead of rising.
Not to speak of the rest of ATL--just the Midtown area has no less than 1,000 units coming on line and several thousand in the planning stages. Let’s name a few mega projects: Atlantic Station, Plaza Midtown, Centennial Park, Onyx, Aqua, 13th St conversion, and we’re not even considering all the new supply in Buckhead and elsewhere inside the Perimeter.
The resell market for condos is really bad. High interest rates are pushing out marginal buyers and condo speculators.
Who’s hiring? Who’s relocating here beside Louisiana evacuees? Tourism payrolls got a big boost from New Orleans’s woes—we got evacuees in hotels and conventions that relocated here. Ticker counters can’t afford a Midtown condo.
Midtown white-collar condo-paying jobs are booming right? No. Atlanta has a great long-term future, but the short-term is dismal. Besides the announced closure of Ft. McPherson, there are mergers, layoffs, and shutdowns affecting GM, Ford, ATT/Bellsouth, Cingular, Hewlett Packard, Delta—just to name a few. Granted, auto workers don’t live in Midtown.