We hope this market update finds you and your family healthy and in good spirits! The Lake Country real estate market (Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair) continues to be strong and stable as you will see from the statistics in this update.
As we discussed in previous newsletters, our market has continued to benefit over the previous few years from a shift to working at home as opposed to going to an office, people wanting to escape the city and all the associated problems, greater desire to live in warmer climates, and people choosing where they want to live based on lifestyle/amenities. These trends are still in place and have continued to bring buyers to our market in HIGH NUMBERS. As a result, inventory of available homes (supply) continues to be low and the number of buyers (demand) continues to be strong. Consequently, real estate prices/values have remained at their highest level over the previous 5 years. VERY EXCITING TIMES FOR HOME SELLERS!
The lot market continues to be strong due to the low housing inventory. On the building front, costs have been increasing throughout the country, and in our market. Material costs continue to be high and there is a shortage of workers resulting in higher construction costs and longer building times. As you might expect, this has caused the cost and time to remodel to increase. Current economic conditions including high interest rates and the stock market, will undoubtedly affect our market, but, there is nothing to indicate that the positive trends that have caused our market to go up will diminish in the short term. We forecast that our market will continue to be strong and attractive to new buyers.
You can see from the statistics below, that both the Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair real estate market in the first half of 2024 is very similar to the first half of 2023. We often get asked if we think our market is “over-priced” and if we are at the “top”. While no one knows for sure, we do know that if you smooth out our market valuation over the previous 30 years, our current valuations are not significantly above the 3-4% historical appreciation line for real estate. In other words, our values are consistent with historical real estate appreciation and do not indicate we are over-priced. This is especially apparent if you compare our prices to other resort areas in the southeast. Bottom line = we still feel now is a great time for buyers and sellers alike in our market. If you are a seller – It is critical that you utilize someone who KNOWS the market and KNOWS HOW TO GET YOUR HOME SOLD for top dollar and in a reasonable marketing time (LIKE US)! We have a proven track record in this market of selling more real estate than anyone for nearly two decades. If you are a buyer, you must utilize an agent who will be proactive, a market expert, and notify you quickly of any market opportunities (LIKE US)!
See below for actual market statistics from the LCBORMLS (Lake Oconee) and NAVICA MLS (Lake Sinclair).
Here is a snapshot of the Lake Oconee real estate market for Jan-Jun 2024 compared with Jan-Jun 2023:
Here is a snapshot of the Lake Sinclair real estate market for Jan-Jun 2024 compared with Jan-Jun 2023:
