More Choices for Buyers and Prices Holding Steady

July 2026 Central Georgia Housing Update

If you have been waiting on mortgage rates before making a move, July has a number that might sting a little: rates today are almost exactly where they were one year ago. A whole year of waiting, and the rate went sideways. But something else changed in that year, and it matters more than the rate. Buyers have more homes to choose from than we have seen in a long time.

Here is July in plain language across our six counties, plus the story of how one single sale made a whole county look $50,000 more expensive this month.

The Big Picture in Central Georgia

Across the region, 1,416 single-family homes sold in July. That is down about 3% from June and up about 1% from a year ago, so the pace is steady, right on last summer’s rhythm. And here is the number to sit with: over 6,200 homes are actively for sale across the region right now, the most selection buyers have had in a long time.

Number 1: Months of Supply

Months of supply is running between about four and five. Under four leans toward sellers, four to six is balanced, and over six leans toward buyers.

Balanced territory, and for the first time in a long time the balance is tilting gently toward buyers
Well-priced homes still sell
Buyers have enough on the market to be genuinely choosy

Number 2: Average Sale Price

The average sale price in July was $389,037. That is down about 2% from June and up about 3.5% from a year ago. The honest read is still steady. One month does not make a trend in either direction, and the national picture backs that up: the repeat-sales index that tracks the same homes over time shows values up barely 1% nationally, and metro Atlanta’s index is essentially flat year over year.

Values are holding a little above last year, which is steady, not a surge
A record national median mostly tells you bigger homes sold, not that your home gained value
Price to the market you are in, not the one from two years ago

Number 3: List-to-Sale Price Ratio

Sellers took home about 96% of asking price on average in July, actually a touch better than June.

Homes priced right on day one are still selling close to ask
The gap between a home that sells in a few weeks and one that sits all summer is almost always the starting price, not the market

Number 4: Days on Market

Homes took about 48 days to sell, a couple of days quicker than June and about seven weeks start to finish.

Enough time for a buyer to see a home twice, run the real numbers, and make an offer they will not regret
Nobody should be panic-buying in this market, and the numbers say nobody has to

Number 5: Interest Rates

The 30-year fixed is sitting at about 6.7%, and the 15-year is right at 6%. Rates did drift up about a quarter point over the last month. But zoom out: one year ago the 30-year was 6.63%. Essentially the same number.

The rate headline has gone nowhere in a year
The selection headline has changed completely
Everyone who spent the last twelve months waiting for rates got a market with more homes to choose from instead. If you are on the fence, the thing to run is your actual payment on an actual house.

Insights: The Record-Price Headline, Explained

You may have seen that the national median home price just set a record, around $440,000. Here is what that number actually measures: the middle price of whatever happened to sell that month. When more larger and higher-end homes change hands, the median climbs even if no individual home gained a dollar of value.

The cleaner measure follows the same home over time, and that one is up about 1% nationally, flat in Atlanta, and it has actually trailed inflation for a full year. I tell you this not to talk the market down but because you make better decisions when the number means what you think it means. Steady is the truth, and steady is workable for both sides.

County-by-County Breakdown

Let’s walk through the six counties, one at a time. This month I went one layer deeper than the sold numbers. For each county I also looked at what is for sale, what is under contract, and what came off the market without selling, because those three lists tell you where a market is headed, not just where it has been.

Butts County

Average price $381,959, median sale $271,950
Days on market about 77
Roughly 3.3 months of supply, still the tightest county in the region
Now hold on, because that average looks like Butts jumped $50,000 in one month. Most of that jump is one sale. A $1.4 million property closed in July after more than a year on the market, and with only 34 homes sold, that one closing pulled the county average up about $30,000 by itself. Here is the tell: the typical Butts sale actually came down this month, from about $296,000 to around $272,000. In a small county, an average can lie to you.
Here is where the real activity was: 10 of the 34 sales closed between $250,000 and $275,000. That one price range did almost a third of the county’s business in July.
Now compare that to what is for sale. The median asking price on the 113 active listings is $370,000, almost $100,000 above the typical July sale. And 15 listings expired in July without selling, at a median asking price of $449,900, after averaging 105 days on the market. If you are selling in Butts, that is the whole lesson in two numbers: buyers are busy under $300,000, and listings priced well above them are the ones going stale.
The 17 homes under contract have a median around $309,500, so next month’s closings should look a lot more like the typical sale than like that $1.4 million outlier.

Lamar County

Average price $348,727, median sale $313,000
Days on market about 67
Roughly 4.5 months of supply
The quietest month of the summer here, only 19 closings, and it has moved from the tightest county in the region to comfortably balanced.
With a sample that small, trust the median. One $875,000 sale, which took 189 days to find its buyer, pulled the county average up by about $30,000 on its own. The $313,000 median is the honest picture of a typical Lamar sale.
And quiet is not the same as stalled. Fifteen homes are under contract right now, nearly as many as closed in all of July, and they went under contract in about 45 days on average. The pipeline is fine. July just closed light.

Henry County

Average price $374,328, median sale $345,000
Days on market about 46
Roughly 4.9 months of supply
The engine of the region: 283 homes sold in 46 days, with nearly 1,400 active listings. If you are a buyer who felt shut out of Henry County the last few years, your selection just got real.
Where did those 283 sales land? About three out of four closed between $250,000 and $500,000, and the single busiest range was $300,000 to $350,000, with 62 sales. That is the heart of this market.
Sellers, here is the Henry number I want you to sit with: 160 listings expired in July without selling, after averaging 97 days on the market, at a median asking price of $388,400. The homes that sold went in 46 days at a median of $345,000. Price is doing most of the work in that difference, and with 1,382 active listings, buyers do not have to wait around on an overpriced home.
The pipeline is deep too: 195 homes under contract at a median of $335,000, right in line with what has been closing. Henry is balanced, big, and moving.

Monroe County

Average price $415,132, median sale $402,500
Days on market about 67
Roughly 4.0 months of supply
Still the move-up and lake market, and it actually tightened this month. The median here, about $402,000, sits right next to the average, so unlike Butts this number is not one sale talking. That is a genuinely higher-priced county.
But do not write Monroe off if your budget is smaller: 11 of the 28 July sales closed under $300,000. There is an affordable side to this county. It just does not make the headline number.
If you are selling on the higher end, look at your competition before you price. Half the active inventory, 56 of 113 listings, is asking $500,000 or more, and the median asking price countywide is $499,900, nearly $100,000 above July’s median sale.
The under-contract list says the upper end is still moving, though: 23 homes pending at a median of $485,000. The move-up buyers are out there. They are just taking their time, and with 28 sales a month, patience is part of this county’s rhythm.

Jasper County

Average price $323,104, median sale $310,000
Days on market about 40
Roughly 5.4 months of supply
The most interesting county on the board: the most buyer-friendly supply in the region, and homes still moving fast, second only to Spalding. Priced-right homes are moving in under six weeks while the rest sit. If you are selling in Jasper, pricing is everything right now.
Here is what is actually behind that 5.4 months of supply. The median asking price on active listings is $447,400, while the median July sale was $310,000. That is the widest gap of the six counties between what is for sale and what is selling.
Look at the top end and it gets clearer: 25 of the 134 active listings are asking $700,000 or more, and not one July sale closed above $700,000. The highest sale of the month was $660,000. The buyer-friendly supply number is real, but a lot of it sits in a price range where July’s buyers simply were not buying.
Only 10 homes are under contract right now, so the market is not going to rescue an ambitious price. Price to the $310,000 reality and the 40-day pace can be yours.

Spalding County

Average price $300,500, median sale $290,000
Days on market about 37
Roughly 4.7 months of supply
The fastest county in the region this month and still the most affordable way into this market at around $300,000.
More than half of July’s sales, 39 of 70, closed under $300,000. If you are a first-time buyer in Central Georgia, this is the county where your money works hardest.
The speed has a catch, though. Homes that sold in July averaged 37 days, while the 332 active listings have been sitting an average of 74 days, twice as long. Spalding splits into two markets: homes priced where the buyers are, which move in about five weeks, and homes that are not, which sit.
The next wave is even more affordable: the 50 homes under contract have a median of $245,000, the lowest pipeline price of the six counties. Spalding’s buyers are price-driven, and the sellers who respect that are the ones closing in 37 days.

Bottom Line

So, are buyers getting the upper hand in Central Georgia? Not the upper hand, but for the first time in a long time they have an even one. Prices are holding a little above last year, homes are selling near asking in about seven weeks, and there are more choices on the market than we have seen in a long time. Sellers, the market is still there for you, but the price has to be right on day one.

And remember the Butts County lesson: one sale can move a whole county’s average, so be careful what a single number tells you. This is why I put the county numbers and the national picture side by side every month.

If you want these numbers in your inbox every month, along with what is happening around town, the newsletter is the place.

If you are wondering what July’s numbers mean for your own next step, reach out and we will talk it through. This is a decision, not a rush.