50 FORECAST 2022 REAL ESTATE
‘It’ll still be busy’: Cobb’s hot housing
market expected to continue in 2022
By: Hunter Riggall
2021 was a red-hot year for real estate, and
Cobb was no dierent. In this seller’s market,
the average sale price of a home in Cobb at
the start of 2022 is $429,925, up a whopping
17.7% from a year ago, said Wendy Chambers,
president of the Cobb Association of Realtors.
ose soaring prices are the result of high
demand and low inventory, Chambers said. e
number of homes for sale is down 18.3% over
the past year, and the number of new listings are
down 9.2%.
According to the National Association of
Realtors, a monthly mortgage payment for a
30-year xed rate mortgage in Cobb is $1,248,
compared to $1,155 a year prior.
“People nd themselves in a Catch-22 — they
can get more for the sale of their property, but
then it’s going to cost them more to move,”
Chambers said. “And then you have, ‘Where are
you going to go?’ because inventory is so low.
So, it’s causing a little bit of a deadlock.”
Construction workers nish sidewalks at a new townhouse
development in Vinings, an area with rapidly
increasing housing costs and few homes available for
housing-hungry buyers. Prices are up across metro
Atlanta by 24% in the past year and demand has not
waned, real estate observers said. at demand has
builders happy but exhausted. - Robin Rayne
Chambers attributes those trends to Georgia’s
continued inux of new residents, which she
believes is driven by open COVID-19 policies
and a business-friendly climate.
“And now we have individuals who, their life
has changed, because maybe their company has
gone remote,” Chambers said. “And so, it doesn’t
matter where they live, as long as they have
remote access. And they’re choosing to live in
Georgia, because we have a lot more exibility
than other parts of the country right now.”
For Ellen Hill, a Realtor with Atlanta Fine
Homes Sotheby’s International Realty, 2021 is
when houses started going incredibly fast. Outof
town buyers and millennials are driving that,
she said. More people want space to spread out
and a yard for the family dog. Proximity to an
oce isn’t as important as it was.
“e millennial buyer doesn’t have a house to
sell, since they’re moving from their apartment,”
Hill said. “So when a millennial buys a house,