Metro Atlanta’s Housing Market Rebounding

“We are on a long-term trend downward, that I think will continue through the rest of the year and get us back to more normal levels of foreclosure activity in Atlanta,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.

An audio version of this story.

Gwinnett County’s foreclosure rate for July fell 64% compared to July 2012, according to RealtyTrac.

Douglas County’s rate dropped 61%, while DeKalb County’s slipped 54% in that same time-frame.

Blomquist says improvements in real estate value are being reported across the nation, but things are a little peachier in the Peach State.

“I would say Georgia is bouncing back more quickly than the rest of the country because they were hit harder, so there is more room for improvement,” says Blomquist.

Institutional investors are among the factors assisting with Georgia’s recovery.

“They’ve really been coming into the Atlanta market and finding areas where they’re purchasing single-family homes as rentals, and that’s really helping,” says Blomquist.

He says those investors represented 25% of all housing sales in metro Atlanta this past July.