Alpharetta contract signings down 40.3% from a year ago

ALPHARETTA, Ga. Fewer buyers in Alpharetta went under contract in October than a year earlier, a sign of where closings are headed. Purchase contracts fell 40.3% to 86, from 144.

The October median sale price was $728,500, up 5.6% from a year earlier.

The median home closed at 97.7% of its final list price in October, against 98.4% over 12 months. Of the month's sales, 61.5% closed below list. A price cut came before 45.2% of sales, compared with 33.6% over the year.

With 545 active listings as of 1:20 p.m. ET Nov. 14, Alpharetta had 5.2 months of supply at October's closing pace, which our published bands read as balanced. On the 12-month sales pace the figure is 3.9 months, which falls in the seller-leaning (under 4 months) band.

The longer view is steadier. In the 12 months through October, the median across 1,687 sales was $735,000, up 3.5% from $710,000 in the prior 12 months.

Time to sell ran slower than the year's norm: a median 40 days in October, against 21 days over 12 months.

Countywide, Fulton County closed 846 sales at a $480,000 median, up 4.6% from a year earlier.