Most Homes Sold Below Asking in Cumming, Johns Creek and Alpharetta

About two-thirds of homes sold in Cumming and Johns Creek closed below asking price in August, while a majority of Alpharetta buyers also paid less than sellers requested, according to Zillow.

The figures offer a look at negotiations across three North Atlanta housing markets where homes typically took seven to eight weeks to go under contract in September.

In Zillow’s Cumming market, 66.1% of August sales closed below list price. The share was 66% in Johns Creek and 58.4% in Alpharetta. August was the latest month available for those sales measures in Zillow’s September market updates.

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The typical gap between asking and selling prices was relatively modest. The median sale-to-list price ratio was 98.6% in Cumming and Johns Creek, equivalent to a sale price 1.4% below the listing price. Alpharetta’s ratio was 99.2%, or 0.8% below asking. Those calculations describe the middle transaction in each market, rather than a discount every buyer received.

Home values move in different directions

The three markets differed in their annual home-value changes.

Zillow estimated Cumming’s typical home value at $586,393 as of Sept. 30, down 2.3% from a year earlier. Alpharetta’s typical value was $711,257, down 0.3%. Johns Creek recorded a small increase, rising 0.4% to $689,664. These figures come from Zillow’s Home Value Index, which tracks estimated home values and is separate from the median price of homes that sold during a particular month.

Homes took a median of 56 days to go pending in Cumming during September, compared with 54 days in Alpharetta and 49 days in Johns Creek. That measures the time to a pending sale, rather than the full period through closing.

Some homes still sell above asking

Buyers continued to pay premiums on a portion of homes. In August, 20.1% of Johns Creek sales closed above list price, compared with 18.6% in Alpharetta and 12.6% in Cumming.

The local figures accompany a broader slowdown. Zillow’s September market report, released Oct. 6, estimated that Atlanta metro home values were down 1.6% annually, while for-sale inventory was up 1.3%. Its preliminary estimate put September sales 11.2% below a year earlier. Those metropolitan figures cover a much larger area than the three local markets.