ATHENS — It seems everywhere you look, today, sales of homes are skyrocketing. And Athens is riding that rocket, too.

According to the latest monthly report from the Alabama Center for Real Estate, home sales (single-family and condos) in Athens and Limestone County were up 39.3 percent from November to December last year. ACRE said 241 homes were sold in December compared to 173 in November. The increase goes against the five-year average, ACRE said. The sales were also up 37 percent compared to December 2019.

“Historical data indicates that December residential sales on average (2015-19) decreased 5.2 percent from November,” the report said. “The current month’s sales increased 39.3 percent from the prior month.”

The report also showed the median sales price was about the same in December ($255,166) as in November ($255,135) while the average sales price dropped 2.2 percent from December ($281,067) to November ($287,535), both against the norm.

““Historical data indicates that December median sales prices on average (2015-19) increased 3.7 percent from November,” the report said. “… December’s average sales prices on average increased 1.9 percent from September (but) the current month’s median price decreased 0.8 percent from the prior month.”

Houses were on the market an average of 18 days in December (down from 20 in November and 43 in December 2019) and the inventory showed 269 houses available, an increase of 19 over November.