If you have been trying to make sense of the housing market lately, you have probably heard two stories that cannot both be true. One says prices are crashing. The other says homes are flying off the market. Here in Central Georgia this June, neither one holds up.
The honest word for our market right now is steady. Homes are still selling, prices are holding, and for the first time in a while, buyers have a little room to breathe. Below is the plain-language breakdown of what June looked like across our six counties, plus one property tax detail that a lot of local homeowners have wrong.
Right around 1,466 single-family homes sold across the region in June. That is down about three percent from May and about one percent from a year ago, so sales are essentially flat. Nothing is falling off a cliff, and nothing is overheating.
The clearest sign of balance is our months of supply, sitting right around four. Under four months tends to favor sellers, four to six is balanced, and over six starts to favor buyers. We are right in the middle, which is the healthiest this market has felt in years.
Central Georgia is holding at about four months of supply. That means if no new homes came on the market, it would take roughly four months to sell everything currently listed.
The average sale price in June was just under $399,000. That is up about two percent from May and just about flat compared to a year ago.
I want to be honest about that word flat. Our median price actually slipped a little year over year, and national figures show home values roughly flat once you account for inflation. So when a headline says prices keep setting records, that is usually about which homes happened to sell, not about your home gaining value.
On average, sellers received about 96 percent of their asking price in June, right about where it was a year ago.
Homes took about 50 days to sell in June, a few days slower than a year ago. That is not alarming, it is a return to normal.
The 30-year fixed sits around 6.4 percent and recently ticked down to a seven-week low. The 15-year is about 5.8 percent. Rates are easing off their highs, slowly.
I want to talk plainly about something I care a lot about: large investors buying up homes. You have probably heard about it, and it is real. Over the last several years, big companies and build-to-rent operators have been buying single-family homes to rent out instead of sell, and metro Atlanta leads the entire country in corporate-owned rentals. That activity has been moving south into our area, especially near the northern edge of Henry County and at the more affordable, entry-level price points.
Here is why it matters to me. When an investor pays cash and closes fast, a first-time buyer trying to get a foot in the door is often the one who loses out. Every starter home that becomes a rental is one less chance for someone to own instead of rent. I believe owning a home is still one of the most dependable ways everyday people build stability and long-term wealth, and I do not want to watch that door quietly close.
This is not a reason to panic, and it is not happening on every street. In our rural counties it is far less common than in the metro. But it is worth understanding, because knowing about it is how you hold your own. If you are buying, especially in the lower price ranges, it helps to know which neighborhoods carry heavy investor and rental activity, so you can decide on purpose where you want to plant roots and so we can build an offer that stands up to a cash buyer. That is exactly the kind of thing I help my clients work through.
Here is how June looked in each of the six counties I follow.
Butts County
Lamar County
Henry County
Monroe County
Jasper County
Spalding County
Here is the part a lot of local homeowners have wrong. You may have heard that Georgia capped property taxes with House Bill 581. The catch is that your county, your city, and your school board each decided separately whether to keep that cap, and each of them can revisit it every year.
In our six counties, five of the six school boards opted out. The school portion is usually the largest part of your tax bill, so for most of us the biggest piece is still climbing with the market. Only Butts County kept the cap on the school portion.
Two quick things to protect yourself:
June was a steady month in Central Georgia. Prices are holding, the market is balanced, and the property tax picture is more of a patchwork than a promise. This is exactly why I look at our local numbers, the state, and the national picture together, because the headline and your own street are rarely telling the same story.
If you want the full breakdown every month, plus local events and the numbers behind the numbers, join my newsletter.
If you are wondering what June’s numbers mean for your own next step, let’s talk it through. No rush, no pressure.
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