"The best offer this summer is rarely the largest one. It is the one with the fewest conditions attached."
— Bill Rawlings, Founder & CEO, Peachtree Town & Country
WHERE THE MARKET STANDS
Metro Atlanta closed June with a median sale price near $410,000, effectively where it stood a year ago. Inventory tells the more interesting story. Active listings are up nearly ten percent from last summer, placing Atlanta third among the country's forty largest markets for supply growth, and putting us back within reach of pre-pandemic levels for the first time since 2019. Homes are taking roughly fifty-five days to sell. Across Georgia, sellers are collecting 95.6 percent of their original asking price, down slightly from a year ago.
None of that describes a market in trouble. It describes a market that has finally caught its breath, and one in which the terms of a transaction now carry as much weight as the price.
INSIDE THE PERIMETER
Town has shifted, and the shift is most visible at the top. Inventory above one million dollars is up roughly eighteen percent year over year, and Buckhead is now sitting at approximately six months of supply. By the standard we hold to, six months is balanced. Not soft, not distressed, balanced. The median luxury sale in Buckhead is holding near $1.72 million, which tells you demand has not left. It has simply become selective.
For sellers in Buckhead, Brookhaven, Morningside, and Druid Hills, this means the days of waiting for the market to come to you are behind us. For buyers, particularly in the high-rise segment, this is the most workable negotiating window we have seen in several years
OUTSIDE THE PERIMETER
Country continues to run at a different tempo. Alpharetta is carrying roughly four and a half months of supply, which by our standard is balanced, and well-positioned homes are still going under contract in about three and a half weeks. The distinction that matters here is not average versus average. It is prepared versus unprepared. Across North Fulton, the share of listings taking a price reduction climbed again in June, and those homes have been sitting an average of eighty-two days. Fresh, correctly positioned inventory moves. Everything else waits.
Pricing across much of North Fulton has moderated, with Johns Creek the notable exception, posting a solid gain in median sale price during June. Milton, Roswell, Cumming, and northern Forsyth remain supported by relocation demand, school reputation, and a new construction pipeline that gives buyers a genuine alternative. A resale home more than a decade old is now competing directly against a builder who can offer rate buydowns and closing cost credits. That is not cause for concern. It is cause to prepare properly and structure thoughtfully.
THE COST OF MONEY
Rates moved up again this week to 6.66 percent, the highest reading in about a year, after the Federal Reserve held its position in late July. Two things are worth saying plainly. First, we are still slightly below where we were twelve months ago. Second, buyers in this market have stopped waiting for a number and started negotiating for a payment. Seller concessions, rate buydowns, and creative structure are doing work that price reductions used to do, and they often serve both sides better.
WHAT WE ARE ADVISING CLIENTS RIGHT NOW
For sellers: if your goal is to close before the holidays, you are on the runway now, not in September. Price to the last ninety days of closings rather than to last spring's aspiration, and come to market prepared. Then be genuinely open on terms. A clean, well-structured offer at a slightly lower number is frequently worth more than a higher one carrying contingencies.
For buyers: you have leverage you did not have two years ago, and it is concentrated in listings that have been sitting. Use it on structure, not just on price. Ask for the buydown. Ask for the credit. And move decisively when the right property appears, because well-prepared homes in strong neighborhoods are still trading quickly.
For both: the transaction is no longer won on a single number. It is won on how the whole agreement is assembled.
Bill Rawlings, Founder & CEO
Peachtree Town & Country
Market data is compiled from FMLS, Georgia MLS, the Georgia Association of REALTORS, and Freddie Mac. Figures are not a representation of properties listed or sold by Peachtree Town & Country.
