The first quarter of 2011 proved to be a mixed bag in terms of our Atlanta residential real estate market, compared to the first three months of 2010. The number of homes that closed were down slightly at 2.3%, while the number of homes going under contract increased fairly significantly by 12.6%. There is definitely a feeling amongst the professionals in our local industry that the market is improving. Further, within our company, we have experienced a significant increase in business over the past year. Our new business is up 70% over the same time last year.
Looking at some of the market segments more closely reveals some interesting facts about our local market. For example, looking at the upper tier of single family detached homes in metro Atlanta, we see that both closed homes and homes that went under contract increased during the first quarter by just over 8%. Further, detached housing, or condos, for the same period and price point, doubled the number of homes that closed and went under contract during the first quarter. While the number of sales in this product class and price point are relatively small, the percentage growth figures are impressive.