Athens, GA Real Estate Market: House Prices, Trends & Stats

WalletHub ranks Athens GA real estate as the best housing market in the state of Georgia, United States. This ranking is based on major investment metrics, for example, vacancy rates, ratio of rent to sale prices, and home value forecast. This is one of the reasons why home values in Athens are getting hotter.

Over the previous year, the typical home value in this city has gone up by 27.3 percent while rents for a 3-bedroom space have increased by 14 percent, based on Zumper and Zillow. For those of you who are looking for profitable property investment, you should consider investing in Athens Georgia real estate. In this article, we will talk about the city’s housing market, including trends and forecasts.

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A Glimpse of Athens, Georgia

Athens is a mid-sized town in North-eastern Georgia. It is also home to The University of Georgia, which is the state’s renowned public university and research centre. Just like cities with many universities, there is an emphasis on culture and art in the community. There are art galleries, performing arts, museums, breakfast spots, and a fantastic botanical garden in Athens.

Athens, Georgia, is part of the Athens-Clarke County MSA. This city is about an hour drive from Downtown Atlanta. The economy in the city is driven by established, new technology start-ups, as well as manufacturing, biotechnology firms, and tourism industry. Athens is also known as the birthplace of some famous new wave and alternative rock performers, such as Matthew Sweet, The B-52s, R.E.M, and Indigo Girls.

Athens has so many interesting tourist spots that you can visit. For instance, Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Georgia Museum of Art, Georgia Museum of Natural History, Morton Theatre, The Georgia Theatre, and many more. The climate in this city is similar to most of the state and the South-eastern America, with brief, cool winters and hot, humid summers.

Athens GA Real Estate Market Overview

There is limited land in Athens where new multifamily and single-family housing can be built. This condition is also one of the reasons why Athens real estate prices continue to increase. There are currently 22 new houses for sale and 247 active listings in Athens, Georgia. In July 2022, homes in Athens were selling for a median price of $320,000.

Homes averagely sell after 39 days on the market compared to 156 days last year. In July 2022, there were 362 houses sold compared to 101 homes sold in the previous year. The current sales-to-list ratio in Athens is 1, indicating that houses in Athens GA are selling at the same price that they have been listed.

As of April 2022, Zillow Home Value Index or ZHVI for Athens is $291,849.
Home values in Athens, GA rose by 27.3 percent over the past year and by 92 percent over the last 5 years.
According to the most recent report from Realtor.com, the median list price of a single-family home in the city is $350,000. While the median price per square foot of a home for sale is $181.
The median sales price of a single-family house in Athens, Georgia is $340,000.
Homes in Athens are staying on the market for 34 days on average.
Of the 29 neighbourhoods in Athens, Georgia, the most affordable one to buy a home is Beachwood where the median home listing price is $105,000. While the most expensive neighbourhood is Skyline with a median home listing price of $649,900.

Athens GA Real Estate Market Trends

The median list price of homes in Athens was $320,000 as of July 2022 compared to $375,000 in July 2021. The city is a hot seller’s market, meaning that there are more people looking to buy a home than there are homes available. The median price per square foot of homes was $181 as of July 2022, compared to $191 in 2021.

The median list price of a single-family home in Athens, Georgia is $342,400 in July 2022, compared to $399,900 in 2021. The number of single-family homes for sale is 285 as of July 2022 compared to 77 in 2021. Distressed properties such as short sales and foreclosures remained the same as a percentage of the total market in August.

The median list price of condominiums in Athens is $234,900 in July 2022 compared to $184,000 in 2021. The number of condos for sale is 77 compared to 24 last year. While the median days on market for condos in Athens is 32, compared to 63 days in 2021.

Athens GA Real Estate Market Forecast

The current median price of an average house in Athens, Georgia is $185,630 with a long-term gain. The price of an average home in the city is predicted to reach $198,109 by 2027. For a 5-year investment, you can expect a profit of around 6.72 percent, meaning that investing $100,000 today in the Athens housing market may generate a profit of $106,720 by 2027.

Looking at the market overview and market trends, it can be seen that Athens’ real estate market has been in the bearish cycle over the last 36 months. So that real estate investors may want to think twice to invest in the Athens housing market. But it is forecasted that home prices in the city will increase in the foreseeable future. Moreover, now is a good time for homebuyers as home prices and value in Athens are relatively down.

Renters’ Market in Athens, Georgia

The elected mayor in Athens, GA recently observed that there has been a shortage of focus from developers on workforce housing, creating a supply shortage. The factor that drives the city’s rental market is students from nearby University of Georgia who frequently prefer to rent 2-bedroom houses to 4-bedroom houses rather than living on campus. Here are some stats about the renter market in Athens, Georgia.

Based on Zumper, the median rent in Athens for a 3-bedroom house was $1,650 as of December 2021.
Rents in Athens-Clarke County have gone up by more than 4 percent the previous year.
48 percent of the housing units in the city are renters occupied.
Single-family homes form 61 percent of the housing units in Athens. This lower percentage makes a house an appealing rental choice.

Historic Price Changes and Housing Affordability

Analysing historic home price changes and housing affordability are 2 ways that real estate investors can do to predict the current and potential future demands for real properties. Tracking the housing affordability in a market can also give an idea of how many people will opt for renting rather than owning.

HAI or Housing Affordability Index compares the median family income to the price of median resale single-family houses. Of course, other factors also affect people’s decision to rent rather than buy a home. These factors could be lifestyle options and a shortage of available housing. HAI uses 100 as the base index number. The higher the affordability index is above 100, the more affordable a market is, and vice versa.

The HAI in Athens is 117, according to the most recent HAI data through July 2021. This indicates that Athens, GA is among the less affordable places in the state of Georgia to purchase a home, which could mean a strong demand for rental properties in Athens.

Population Growth in Athens GA

Athens, Georgia is part of the Clarke County R-1 School District with 22 elementary schools, 11 middle schools, and 8 high schools. WalletHub ranks Athens-Clarke County as among the rapidest-growing areas in the United States. The firm analysed 17 key measures of growth and decline for 515 cities in the nation, reviewing data sets like growth in regional GDP, unemployment rate decrease, and population growth.

As a result, Athens, GA has a higher growth rate than other cities like Springfield in Illinois, and Albany and Columbus in Georgia. Below are some stats regarding the Athens GA population.

City of Athens has around 127,000 residents with almost 485,000 people within a 45-minute drive of Downton Athens.
The growth of Athens Georgia population is 0.82 percent year-over-year.
Clarke County, where Athens is located, added 1,000 new residents last year. The area’s population is predicted to reach more than 135,000 residents in the next few years, based on the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget.
Referring to the Gwinnet Daily Post, Clarke County is one of the rapidest-growing counties in the state of Georgia, gaining almost 12,000 new residents between 2010 and 2020.

Job Market in Athens GA

The employment growth in Athens-Clarke County was 4.8 percent over the previous year, which is between April 2021 and April 2022. According to a report from the BLS, the industry sectors in Athens, Georgia that show the fastest growth include government, professional and business services, transportation, trade, as well as leisure and hospitality. Here is some data about the job market in Athens, Georgia.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the GDP of the Athens-Clarke County MSA is more than $10.4 billion. The number has grown by more than 48 percent over the last decade.
As of April 2022, the unemployment rate in the Athens metropolitan area decreased to 2.0 percent.
Forbes ranks Athens as the 6^th best small place for careers and business, 20^th in costs of doing business, and 28^th in job growth.
The target industry sectors in Athens include heavy equipment manufacturing, advanced materials manufacturing, and aerospace machining.
Largest private employers in the city include DialAmerica, Pilgrims poultry products, Caterpillar Athens Plant, Piedmont Athens Regional Healthcare, and Carrier Transicold, which is a transport refrigeration equipment maker.
2 of the largest public employers in the Athens-Clarke County MSA are Clarke County School District and University of Georgia.
14 percent of the labour force in Athens is working in the manufacturing sector.
Athens is home to technology companies, such as Digital Insight, Partner Software, Cogent Education, and Roundsphere.
The Athens metropolitan area is home to big universities and colleges, which are University of Georgia, Athens Technical College, Piedmont College, and Augusta University.
Some biotechnology research centres are hosted by the University of Georgia, including Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Moreover, Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are headquartered in Athens, including Merial.

Life Quality in Athens, Georgia

Niche.com ranks Athens as the 4^th best place to live in the state. The city also receives the highest ranking for public schools, outdoor activities, and nightlife. The living cost in Athens, Georgia is 13 percent below the national average. So, you can see that it is an affordable city. Besides cultural and art performances, Athens is also known for incredible food, amazing music, and the Georgia Bulldogs.

Athens CEO ranks the city as the 8^th Best College Town for Start-ups.
The city ranks in number 2 for College Football’s Greatest College Towns, thanks to Sports Illustrated.
Forbes rated Athens as one of the best places in the United States to retire 4 years in a row.
Insurify named Athens as the Greenest City in the country. While Jetsetter ranked it as one of America’s Coolest Southern Towns.
Athens is home to Georgia Museum of Art, which is the official state art museum.
Athens Piedmont Hospital is among the best hospitals in the United States.
The annual Athens Twilight Criterium race attracts cyclists across the country as well as the world.
Port of Savannah is just 4 hours from Athens.
Athens Line, TAL, Norfolk Southern, and CSX provide rail service through the Athena Industrial Park.