Fayette County, GA Market Report 4th Qtr. 2021

Fayette County Wide Market Report for Single Family Detached Housing (Data Source: Georgia MLS) for 4th Quarter (10/1/2021 - 12/31/2021). 

Fayette County with a population of approximately 120,000 is located in the South Atlanta Greater Metropolitan area.  Fayetteville is the County Seat and has a population of about 20,000.  Peachtree city, most known for its golf course communities and 90 plus miles of golf cart paths, is the largest city in the county with a population of about 40,000.  Peachtree city was started in the 1950's but didn't get it's own zip code until 1979.  

At the end of the 4th quarter of 2021 there was 138 active listings in the County with a little more than 3 weeks (.85 months) of inventory.  6 months is widely considered a stable housing market.  (All Data is a comparison from the 4th Quarter of 2021 to the 4th Quarter of 2020.  Figures: $USD)

                                                        Average       %        Medium    %

List Price 2021                              501,150        11%       446,000   12%

List Price 2020                             450,785                    398,800 

Sold Price 2021                             478,541      21%        416,572    19%

Sold Price 2020                            394,444                   350,000

Days On Market 2021                     27                                9

Days On Market 2020                    35                               15

Conclusion and Tips:

The main take away from this is that this robust seller's market is continuing with record low inventories and extreme demand.  It's Economics 101 where supply is low and demand is high will cause an increase in prices and that's exactly what we see here.  Sellers:  Pricing and preparing the home for market is critical to be in the "get sold" group.  One thing to keep in mind, is that even in super strong seller's market like this one, if the home isn't move in ready or not priced properly it delays the time to get it under contract and ultimately sold plus a seller may end up having to make a series of price drops.  A proper price will get it sold quickly and, in many cases, you'll be looking at table full of multiple offers with your REALTOR.  A common practice is to have the home ready, put it on the market on say a Thursday and look at offers by Monday evening. This allows full market exposure to active vetted buyers out there and gives you a set timeline.  If it ends up going longer out beyond the medium days on market it may be a likely issue with the price or even a quality issue that may need attention.    Buyers must be fully 100% prepared, armed with an approval letter, proof of funds and a well thought out strategy in order to compete with the other buyers and win the offer.  Buyers need to pe prepared for the reality of this market in that a person may end up having to repeat the process of looking at their top three to five homes, make an offer on the best one and get beat out by a competing offer, a number of times before being successful.  That's the reality of this market.  Now it's not always that way but be prepared with lots of tenacity in your basket.    

REALTORS, like myself, adhere to a strict set of ethics acting in the client's best interest, communicating in a timely manner and so forth.  Consumers need to be aware that not all players in real estate are REALTORS.  Moreover, homes listed on the MLS typically sell for more.  Even in the i-buyer/seller era, by far the vast majority of homes are bought and sold through a licensed REALTOR.   

How long will this market continue?  That's a good question.  A variety of opinions exist out there and of course we don't have that magic crystal ball that will tell us definitively, but it's thought that when interest rates go up it will do a number of things.  One is that it will make it harder for sellers in other states where prices are super sky high to find buyers for their homes such that our local market will lose that segment of buyers.  Other buyers in the mix will see their buying power tighten up more thus limiting their purchase options and so forth.  Ultimately this should begin to weaken demand to where we start seeing increases in inventory (supply) and days on market numbers will start to go up.  We are also experiencing some inflationary pressures as well and how that weighs on new construction remains to be seen in terms of building material costs.  If those costs go down this year builders may get more product out on the market, and this of course allows for more options.  When folks decide to "move up" they sometimes buy a new home and then of course list their current home and so this could increase supply.   There are a lot of factors at play and much remains to be seen, but it is likely that interest rates will go up.  We've seen spikes in lumber and then decreases followed by more spikes, so the big question is are the spikes transient and where will the equilibrium be found?  My personal guess is that we will continue to see prices go up in the market over the next several quarters at about the same rate as this past year.  Of course, anything can happen at any time to change this forecast opinion, and so the best time really to list a home or buy is, as soon as you're ready and no time like the present!