Real Estate: Coweta County market update

By JESS BARRON, Lindsey’s Inc. Realtors

The real estate market continues to shift from a seller’s market to a more neutral market. We are seeing homes listed take much longer to sell. There are more sellers reducing their list prices. The real estate market was so strong in the spring of 2022 that you were rarely seeing price reductions. Things have changed. 

We are seeing an increase in properties listed for sale. At the time I am writing this, there are 398 residential listings for sale in Coweta County. We were typically dealing with only 140 listings for sale just a few months ago. At the same time, mortgage rates have increased dramatically. Mortgage rates nearly touched seven percent during the week of September 19, 2022. This is the highest rates have been in years. The mortgage rates increase curbed buyer enthusiasm as we are seeing less buyers with less buying power. So, all of this should decrease property prices, right? This is not the case at all right now.

Per the Georgia Multiple Listing Service (GAMLS), the average sales price in Coweta County in August 2021 was $383,732. In August of 2022 the average sales price jumped over 17% to $451,410. Despite an increase in supply (listings) and decrease in demand (less buyers), the price has increased. This is quite an unusual real estate market. This does show the value in Coweta County real estate right now.

So, what does the future hold? We are entering our seasonally “slow” time of the year in real estate. We sell less houses in the fall and winter than the spring and summer. I do expect prices to simmer down. Regarding mortgage rates, the Federal National Mortgage Association, known as Fannie Mae, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, known as Freddie Mac, both have predicted that mortgage rates will decrease closer to 4% in 2023. This should increase the number of buyers and strengthen their buying power (they can afford more). The real estate market is more volatile now than it has been in a very long time, but prices continue to stay strong here in Coweta County.