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Below is the July Real Estate Activity for our area. This reportsand opinions expressed are prepared by our Corporate Vice President and offer great insights into the current and future real estate activity in our area.
I hope you find this informative. Feel free to call me at (706) 970-0390 if I can provide you any additional information of be of assistance.
SUMMARY
In a sentence, the local mountains realty market seems healthy in general, and in most individual parts of our area too. Unit sales began the year slowly, and then began to catch and pass the YTD totals for 2025. At this point, 2026 has seen a 5% increase in units sold. Prices too are “melting-up” with a 3.5% generalized increase over the 2025 average prices. Some of this is clearly due to a strong July. As for the counties individually, it’s a mixed bag. Some are up on units, but down on prices. Some are the reverse. The real stars are Towns with a 13.5% higher average price than 2025, Fannin which was up 7% on units and in July ran 28% higher prices than the 2025 average, and then Union which had breakouts to the upside on both units and prices in July. The residential average prices also are on a slow but steady march upward, as usual actually. Acreage sales strangely were very slow in July, but prices in 2026 have recovered from a 2025 severe sag, and are back to where they were in 2024. Congratulations to those who bought acreage in 2025.
1. ACTIVE LISTINGS: There were 4,266 active listings in July, which is about 50 more than last month, and about 250 more than last July 2025. This makes 7 straight months of growth in listing inventory, so, there is plenty to buy in this area. At some point the buyer side will begin to heat up again. Until then, expect a continued drift upward in properties available. As we said last month, we now have the most inventory we’ve had since 2020, but it’s still only about 2/3rds of what we had available for sale in 2019!
2. OPEN CONTRACTS (PENDINGS): The number of open contracts (“pendings”) decreased again, and so the past three months, with one up month followed by two down months, takes us right back to the same number of open contracts we had in April. Interestingly though, each of the last five months this year showed more pendings than their corresponding months of 2025. Looks like a favorable sign to me on the macro view.
3. SALES:
Units: Even more encouraging than the number of open contracts (“pendings”) mentioned above is the fact that the actual sales closed this year has increased six straight months. The number of closings began the year lower than the corresponding months of the prior year , but a couple of months ago finally exceeded the prior year numbers and is widening the lead. In July there were 368 closings compared to 287 in July 2025. At this point, 2026 total sales exceed 2025 sales through July by a count of 2,162 to 2,060. So as a percentage, that is 5% more sales than this point in 2025.
Dollars and Average Price: The total sales dollars in July was just over $170 million. With July of last year turning in only $110.6 million, the dollars are showing serious strength. As you might of course guess, that also means the average price per transaction is also showing strength. July’s average transaction price was $462,132. Please don’t confuse that with average house price, as that number comes later under “Residential”. This average incorporates all closings, including lots, acreage, lake properties, commercial, etc. But to see how strong a trend this number portrays, consider that the $462,132 this July compares to an average last July 2025 of $385K, and to the overall 2025 monthly average of $413K. So this July number, which is admittedly the highest of this year, sits 11% above the overall 2025 average price, but the average for this year thus far is also 3.5% ahead of the 2025 average price.
4. RATIOS: The ratios in July were not much changed from the previous months, with the Sales/List Price at 94.01% and the Sales/Original price ratio 92.31%.
5. DAYS ON MARKET: The “Days on Market” came in at 111, which is virtually unchanged from the 113 in June. At that level, the D.O.M. is also running almost exactly the level of last summer’s D.O.M. (i.e., average of June, July, August 2025).
6. COUNTY-BY-COUNTY:
Cherokee County NC: Last month we were lamenting Cherokee’s sluggish sales pace in what is normally a summer uptick season, and unhappily the 39 units from June turned into only 38 for July. So whatever is holding Cherokee unit sales back this summer is still the case. Fortunately, after two months of the average price sagging, it rebounded nicely to $296,847, which is the third highest this year and above both last July ($259K) and the full 2025 monthly average ($284K). So in Cherokee, we are seeing the same semi-amazing scenario we’ve often seen the last couple of years where units are soft, but prices hold up or even rise.
Clay County, NC: In plain terms, Clay County has had a pretty good year. In July, Clay added 29 more sales closed, which is far more than July 2025, and is solidly ahead of the 2025 monthly average of around 23 per month. The total number of sales this year so far is 161 versus 143 at this point in 2025. This is a 12.5% rise in transactions, which is a strong statement in this 2026 real estate environment. Not quite as good is the fact that in July the average price sagged to $287,121. This is well below the July 2025 level, and also below the 2025 average of $330K+. However, this year so far Clay has seen strong prices other than one “blip month” downward, so we’re going to consider July a blip as well. As you all know, in statistics, one odd reading doesn’t make for a trend. I’d say Clay is still on a convincing upswing.
Fannin County, GA: Interestingly, and happily, Fannin County is also having a better 2026 than 2025. The July sales closed were 70, which beat last July and also is ahead of the overall 2025 pace of 68 per month. So far this year Fannin’s total sales of 479 units is 7% ahead of 2025’s total which was 447 at this point. But let’s not dwell on the 7% rise in transactions this year, even though pleasing, because Fannin’s average price of $787,752 is basically a blowout! It is also a new record high. Without it even being said here, we know that these days multiple $1mm and even $2mm sales are becoming commonplace in Fannin. The previous record high was in November 2024 at just shy of $742K, and amazingly July’s average price beats the 2025 monthly average of $614,953 by 28% !!!
Gilmer County, GA: Finally, finally, finally Gilmer had a nice July with 87 sales closed, ahead of July 2025’s 59, which allowed Gilmer to eclipse the 2025 total sales to this point in the year. Gilmer had been dutifully chasing last year’s pace, but just couldn’t quite catch up until this July. Hooray! The troubling thing with this is that while sales units have been growing to now pass 2025’s, the average price has been going the other way the last few months. In July the average price was $362,538, which is below $382K from one year ago July, and also below the 2025 overall average of $395K. This now makes 4 months out of seven this year that were lower than the corresponding month of last year. Let’s hope the price funk in Gilmer ends soon.
Towns County, GA: Towns County closed 28 sales in July, which beat July 2025 by 3, and barely exceeded the 2025 average of 26.5. But this was not the case in average price, which is enjoying a nice updraft this year. The average price in Towns in July was $420,996, which makes 6 out of 7 months this year with the 2026 number being higher than the corresponding 2025 number. And, please enjoy considering that July’s $420,996 was 13.5% higher than the full 2025 average of $371K. In last month’s summary, I said Towns was good but not “hot”, and now Towns seems to be trying to make me pay for that statement, at least as to prices. I’m happy to stand corrected.
Union County, GA: Union County, with 69 sales closed in July, finally had its breakout month and passed the total closings at this point of the 2025 year. In pleasant fact, 69 closings is the most in a month since May 2024 which had 70. The next most this year was only 56 in May, so July was strong by all comparisons. The average price also saw a breakout with $439,819 being the highest since November2024.The average price across all of 2025 was only $345K, so July gave last year a thorough whipping. With units closed and average transaction price both up solidly, July was a great month for Union. Perhaps Union is to no longer be a “Steady Eddy”.
7. RESIDENTIAL: In July the average home price rose to $576,434. This is a very good number, and would be a record high if not for last December’s $592K. An example of how strong this $576,434 number is can be found in comparing it to last July’s $475K and the 2025 average of $521K. July beat that 2025 average by 10.5%!
8. ACREAGE UNIT SALES AND PER ACRE PRICE: (Includes only plain acreage, not lots, lake, commercial, etc: just “raw land”.) The number of acreage sales transactions in July dropped significantly to only 5. The previous year in July there were 11 acreage sales, and 11 was also the full 2025 monthly average, so this July was far slower for acreage sales than normal. The average price came in at $14,897, which is pretty much in line so far this year. Repeating an observation from last month’s summary, because it’s still true and applicable, the average price per acre is well higher than 2025’s $10,417, and is roughly equivalent to the year before (2024) average price of $14,674. Looks like prices for acreage dipped in 2025 and have now recovered to where they were in 2024.
