Limestone County Real Estate sales improving

Local home sales recovering

By Karen Middleton 
karen@athensnews-courier.com 

Local home sales are not showing the 11-percent rise seen nationwide, but one Realtor said sales are improving.

Patsy Gooch, president of the Limestone County Realtors Association, said Monday, “We’re still down below last year, but we’re looking up,” Gooch said.

According to the National Association of Realtors, U.S. home sales rose by the largest amount in more than eight years in June. Officials take this as a sign the housing market is recovering from the worst downturn since World War II.

“This quarter, we sold a total of 215 homes in May, June and July,” Gooch said. “This is 39 units down from the 254 we sold in the same time last year.”

Nationwide, sales have risen for three-straight months with the median sales price of $206,200, which was down by 12 percent from last year’s $234,300.

According to the National Association of Realtors, the median sales price of a home in the South is $159,300.

“We’re improving but we’re not back to where we were,” Gooch said. “The Athens and Limestone County real-estate market remains very sound. While we are down from the previous year, I believe our figures still reflect a healthy market and are in line with seasonal sales.

“We are so encouraged by what’s happening nationally in home sales,” she said. “All of our Realtors have stayed very positive and we all feel we will recover very soon.”