The Latest Trends in the East Cobb, GA Market

The East Cobb real estate market has mostly rebounded without incident since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite growing concerns and instability, the region's residential real estate marketplace did remarkably well in 2020. In 2021, home prices surged, and the trend is expected to rise even further in 2022.

In January 2022, the average value of a house purchased in the 11-county region was $375,000. The Georgia Realtors Association reports that this price is a staggering 23% higher than the median home price in January. Read more to learn about real estate trends in the East Cobb market.

East Cobb has evolved over the previous 50 years from an undeveloped suburb to a thriving residential community with accompanying commercial growth. Apart from the industrial boost provided by multinational organizations such as IBM and Lockheed Martin, the area is home to 15 National Blue Ribbon Schools and 33 Georgia Academies of Excellence. Concerning East Cobb real estate, the neighborhood is unlike any other locality, blending the finest of suburbia living with the energy of city life.

East Cobb is a pleasant, familial-kinship-oriented suburb of Atlanta located northwest of the city. Residents are active in the activities of their colleges, church, and communities. Due to a well-managed county administration, real estate taxes are some of the lowest in the country, and infrastructural development is incomparable in most regions.

The majority of East Cobb dwellers drive their own automobiles. There are various authorized bicycle and walking pathways. The East Cobb region is a large-scale national parkland with hiking and bike routes within minutes. Additionally, major roads are easily accessible for commuting to numerous areas around the region.

In their respective communities, houses in East Cobb often develop into massive family groupings, with residents participating in activities and celebrating holidays together. It's an excellent spot to relocate to since East Cobb is home to a diverse population from across the nation and even from around the globe. It’s simple to create contacts via numerous civic and religious organizations and local college and sports organizations.

Everything you need, including excellent retail facilities, healthcare centers, sports events, city parks, and leisure, is easily accessible within a five-mile radius of many East Cobb landmarks.

The epidemic upended our routines and rhythms. As a result, the startling closure in March 2020 drove many sellers away from the real estate market. Brokers and real estate agents have no idea what would happen if everything came to a screeching stop.

We all want a secure, pleasant place to call home more than ever as the epidemic seems to push us to the limits. While housing sales took a significant dip in 2020-2021, we now see a steep incline in housing in a recovering market.

To assess the latest trends in house pricing, we find that calculating the average selling price per unit square ft. can be a good metric. This can be especially useful for recent regional house sales to arrive at a "ballpark" housing values estimate.

Regional real estate brokers, real estate businesses, internet listing indexes, and the county assessor's homepage are excellent sources of information to consult for calculating the average selling price of homes in East Cobb. Remember, these are only averages — the numbers don’t account for particular characteristics of the house or community that may contribute to or detract from the value of the subject property.

Today's number of available homes is a stark contrast to real estate affairs during the pandemic. At some point in August last year, we saw that there would be as many as 12,509 listings a month, with only 2,515 of them selling.

We’re glad to now see this number converging. The listing to sales ratio is slowly arriving at an equilibrium where many if not all, houses listed are sold within the East Cobb marketplace.

In this aspect, we see that there have been 685 new house listings recently. This is often an indicator that the property business is slowly increasing. Out of those 685 listings, 577 have already sold. This number is consistent even If we look out for the bigger picture in terms of numbers.

Since the pandemic broke out, record-low loan rates have attracted purchasers and increased their purchasing power. While property prices continue to grow, low mortgage rates provide buyers with more purchasing power. It’s not only cheap loan rates driving prices to all-time highs.

A scarcity of available housing is also a significant factor here. Poor loan rates and low inventory characterized the year 2021, creating a perfect hurricane that will continue to drive house prices upward in 2022. While rates continue to expand, inventories just can’t keep up.

On that front, inventories look stable, often staying around a month's supply over the summer. The Georgia real estate marketplace remains highly competitive but less than it was only a few months ago.

One year earlier, Georgia's property supply was at an all-time low of 1.8 months—and has continued to decline. As of May 2021, reserves would have accounted for less than one month's supply. This reduced to 0.9 months in January 2022, another historic low for such a promising area.

The median sales price for East Cobb properties that we are considering currently hovers around the $389k mark, with a leeway of 1% in either direction. However, this doesn’t give us the whole picture. Another statistic worth looking at is the selling price per unit of recent house sales.

In this regard, properties in East Cobb have consistently risen by over $155/square foot to $183/square foot over the past year. If we look at the bigger picture, they have increased from a measly $123/square foot to $183/square foot in the past three years — a rather stark 49.18% increase.

Another helpful indicator in understanding pricing estimates is how closely, if at all, houses sell at the asking price put forward by the sellers. Interestingly, we see an almost perfect 1:1 ratio where properties sell at almost precisely the asking price requested by the sellers.

Worth noting here is that East Cobb County is more of a sellers’ market than a buyers’ market. More people seek to buy homes than homes currently available, which makes it a great place to be a real estate broker or agent who wants to expand their property business.

There is also a noticeable increase in demand for rental properties ever since the pandemic and this region offers up to 1,000 rental listings that go up to $32,000. Approximately half of East Cobb’s single-family rental homes are rented.

Atlanta rental rates plummeted during the pandemic’s peak virulent phase when a large portion of the regional economy shut down. It’s believed to have brought an end to the Atlanta housing market's eight-year run of stable rent rise. Between March and May, the average rent in the metro Atlanta market decreased by 2.2%.

However, recent market data indicates a rapid rebound from the pandemic's worst impact. Atlanta has seen record apartment demand. Indeed, the entire Georgia marketplace won the top rank for apartment demand in the country. Atlanta's third-quarter demand total of 9,008 units represented 87% of the market's yearly uptake during September.

Days-on-market measures how long listings have to stay on the market before they are eventually sold. As such, higher numbers are worse than lower numbers. It is fortunate to see that the days-on-market figure for East Cobb houses for sale has steadily decreased.

A place that once had a days-on-market figure of 74 days has now steadily declined to almost half as much, averaging around 46 days on the market before a listing sells.

The decline in active listings implies that new merchants are hesitant to offer their houses until the pandemic has passed. Simultaneously, the sector is adjusting to the present climate by using the latest technologies like virtual showings and e-signatures to assist demand and supply with their housing requirements.

If you’re looking to explore real estate opportunities in East Cobb, Georgia, or other neighboring communities, contact expert real estate agent Julie Altenbach to buy or sell your next property in Atlanta.