Real estate activity in September took a wrong turn and never bothered to look back. September saw a 30+% decrease in the number of closings in Buckhead from the previous month’s 48 closings. The good news is that the groundwork is being laid for more closings in the last quarter of 2010 as 42 homes became pending contracts in September. Of those 42 pending sales, 23 are foreclosures or short sales. Six of the 33 homes sold in Buckhead during September were foreclosures.

The existence of so many distressed properties on the market is creating downward pressure on all housing prices. While it is good to see some of the distressed inventory sell off, I’m not convinced the impact is going away anytime soon. All major lenders, with the exception of Wells Fargo, have temporarily suspended foreclosures due mainly to paperwork errors and the fear of the legal repercussions that may follow. I’ll write more about that in another blog post. But the ramifications could be thatdistressed properties stay with us much longer while the lenders work out their issues.

The under $500,000 price point saw the most activity in September with 11 homes sold and 15 pending sales. There are still 173 homes in this price range available, creating almost a full year of supply.

From $500,000 to $750,000, 6 homes sold and there were 11 pending sales. With 166 homes availableat this price point, we are in a strong buyers market with 15 months of inventory.

From $750,000 to $1 million, there are currently 110 homes available. Eight homes sold in September and there were four pending sales. This results in a 2+ year supply of homes at the current absorption rates.

In the $1 million to $1.5 million category, there were five sales and six pending sales during September. With 105 available homes, a 17 month supply signals another strong buyers market.

From $1.5 million to $2 million, activity lessened as only one sale and three pending sales occured. With 56 available homeswe are looking at an 18 month supply at current levels of sales.

Within the $2 million to $3 million price point, one home sold and three became pending contracts. With 50 available homes there is a 16 month supply at the current absorption levels.

From $3 million to $5 million, only one home sold in September. There were no pending sales. There are currently 37 homes available.

Last, homes priced from $5 million and up saw no activity in the month of September. With 25 homes on the market, prices continue to drop in hopes of attracting bargain seekers.

The Buckhead condominium market is seeing more activity as 34 condos sold in September and 54 became pending sales. Of those that sold 12 were either foreclosures or short sales. More alarming is that of the 54 pending sales, 44 are foreclosures or short sales. The Buckhead market had 663 available condominiums for sale at the end of September.

The Buckhead townhouse market saw similar trends as the condo market. With 195 available townhomes at the end of September, 15 had sold during the month and eight became pending contracts. Looking more closely, 5 of the 15 sales were foreclosures or short sales and 3 of the 8 pending sales were also distress sales.

If you have a home for sale, or are planning to sell, be sure to check out our Resources for Selling Your Home section. There you’ll find articles that can help you sell successfully in any market.

If you are planning on buying a home, check out our Resources for Homebuyers.

Hopefully next month we can report better news. As always, I’d rather tell you the truth about the market and help you develop a plan for success than to mislead you with overly optomistic reports that cannot be substantiated.