As prices keep soaring, here’s two things to watch if you’re looking for a home in GA

As the real estate market booms across the country, many Middle Georgians still struggle to find places to live. Prices remain high because of a shortage of homes, construction materials and rental spaces.

While the exploding housing market has been persistent since 2020, there could be new factors at play in the Macon and Middle Georgia markets.

Interest rates

One local realtor said that a recent rise of interest rates could present uncertainty and a tougher market for buyers.

“Interest rates are going up, but we’re not really sure how that’s going to affect us because it has not been that long since the rates rose above 5%,” said Anna Roberts, owner and broker of Rivoli Realty in Macon. “It may have created a slowdown in sales, but we can’t tell just yet.”

Rates above 5% on mortgages could be trouble if they keep rising, according to Roberts. It’s not a major issue yet, but the quick rise caused some slight concern. This didn’t occur when the housing boom began in 2020, nor when it continued through 2021.

Roberts said that regardless of the uncertainty of long-term effects, higher interest rates do make it harder for home buyers, giving them less leverage and forcing buyers to get re-approved from year to year. The rates are still a lesser issue than the shortage of homes, though, according to Roberts.

“We still have a shortage of inventory, and that’s been a big deal, not having enough properties for buyers,” she said. “There’s a shortage of everything, virtually, and houses and construction materials are no exception.”

The boom comes through in the numbers, too. The median sale price of homes in Bibb County and neighboring counties (Twiggs, Crawford, Peach, Houston, Monroe and Jones) so far in 2022 is $221,990. The median sale price in that area during the same part of 2021 was just $170,000.

Another real estate agent said that while the interest rates make it somewhat more difficult to buy or rent, the more important factors of housing markets are harder to pin down.

“Why people aren’t selling and moving is very individualized, it could be jobs, family or anything else. It’s very personal,” said Angela Taylor of Coldwell Banker Access Realty. “When markets began to thrive during the pandemic… military markets still went down. It was because orders stopped.”

Stay local

The example of military orders impacting buyers and sellers serves as an example of how individual housing markets can be. Taylor recommended one key thing to anyone searching for a place to live as a result of this: local knowledge.

“The first thing they need to do is find someone with feet on the street and brick and mortar in the location they want to live,” Taylor said. “You really need someone who is dealing in the local field with a lot of experience. You’re not going to have a chance at all if you’re not a super local expert.”

Local agents can be invaluable when houses across the street from one another can have different values depending on market, Taylor said.

This story was originally published July 14, 2022 at 6:50 AM.