For the first time this year we have a report that doesn’t look like a rocket ship up to new highs. This is not unusual for housing, as it has seasonality and Spring has notoriously been the time for housing. So, this report could be the first sign of the spring season ending or it could be an anomaly and next month could be back to setting new highs. Let's dive in!

Median list price of homes for sale came down to $260,000 from the previous high of $287,000. Also, the median price of new listings came down as well to just $245,000. With all else being held equally seeing this drop would be a cause of concern, however; what is interesting is the average days on market fell during this time as well. down to 67 days on average. Plus, we also see price decreases remaining flat and listing with a price increase coming up. So, what we could be seeing is more inventory of lower priced affordable homes coming to market which is weighing down the listing price averages, but they are still priced right and are moving quickly. This is backed up by the majority of new listings this month come from the median price range of $235,000.

Rents have continued to bounce around and have retreated a little bit to just shy of $1400 a month. We still believe that in the long run this will trend higher and be above $1500 in the near future. The big driver for this is going to be supply of rental homes and vacancy rates. Which we have two additional articles supporting that thesis.

Last week, CNBC had an article that talked about on a national level renters are staying put more than historically. This is causing renewal rates to climb higher and in better news keep turnover costs down for investors. On a more local level, the University of Georgia tracks rental vacancy rates across the state and shows the state average to be at 6.7% between the time of 2019-2023, Lowndes County comes in at 5.7% during that same time. What’s even more, this is down almost by half from the previous 4-year period of 2014-2018. With vacancy trending lower, this creates a supply constrain for renters and when supply is limited rent rates will climb.

Feel free to click through different counties in GA in the link below to compare with Lowndes County.

Rental Vacancy Rate | Georgia Data

Something 'striking' is happening with apartment renters