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Atlanta's wet summer has reined in part of the metro market's new-home inventory.
The inventory of new homes that have been finished but are unsold dropped to a three-month supply in the second quarter, down from a 3.2-month supply in the first quarter, according to Metrostudy Inc., which tracks housing data in Atlanta. But total inventory, which includes homes still under construction, rose just slightly to 7.3 months in the second quarter from 7.2 months the previous quarter, according to Metrostudy.
That compares with 3.8 months worth of total new-home inventory nationally for the second quarter, down from 4.2 months of inventory in the first quarter, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
"The lower the inventory, the better it is for the industry," said Ron Peiffer, president of KB Home Atlanta LLC (NYSE: KBH). "For the home buyer, it's almost exactly the opposite."
Builders with a lot of inventory that isn't moving means they have to pay interest on the construction loans for those speculative homes, he said. For a home priced to sell...