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Happy Summer Everyone!
Below is the May 2026 Real Estate Activity Report for our area. There is a narrative summary and a more detailed year-to-date report is attached. These reports and 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 or be of assistance.
SUMMARY:
As said last month, inventory continues to rise, now above 4,000 units, and at this point it’s still a good thing. Both pending contracts and unit sales are rising as well, which from logic would tell us that properties coming to market are also increasing. Still, total sales units have not yet eclipsed the total of the first five months of 2025, but are very close. Continued acceleration may be in the cards and take us to a 2026 that is beginning to swing up finally above last year. Average price in general is also looking healthy and is still slowly inflating despite several years of declining volume. That’s really impressive. The performance of our individual counties can generally be summed-up by saying the same as we reported for the whole MLS in total. We are still behind 2025 in units sold, but just barely, and we are gaining steam. Fortunately, resilient prices have kept us healthy while waiting for the unit volume rebound, which seems to be arriving slowly but now noticeably improved in May/June. Fannin, having risen the fastest and highest in the 2018-2022 period, is also the one that sagged the most and is still working on a good rebound. Cherokee notably, in addition to a weak unit volume, is the one that has also been fighting downward price volatility.
ACTIVE LISTINGS: Another month of climbing inventory brought us to 4,089 in May, up 3% from the month before, and up 19% for the year to date. This is roughly the same climb rate seen over the first five months of last year, but each month the inventory count is about 200 – 250 ahead of 2025. So, on a chart you’d see parallel lines, sloping upward to the right, with the 2026 line above the 2025 line.
OPEN CONTRACTS (PENDINGS): This year began with January and February both having fewer contracts pending than those same months of 2025. However, it flipped in March, and we’ve been at a better pace the last three months than in March-May 2025. Let’s hope the trend continues and intensifies.
SALES:
Units: Last month I reported that each month this year so far the unit sales had been catching-up with the corresponding months in 2025, and in May our sales count again overtook May of the previous year. We’re just not quite there yet in terms of 2026 exceeding total unit sales from the first five months of 2025. Through May we have 1,438 closings, with is now only 37 sales behind 2025 YTD. Given that the pending contracts began and have continued to outpace those of the 2025 year, I expect those will flow through into a higher YTD tally of closings during June 2026 than at the same point in 2025.
Dollars and Average Price: The total sales volume in May was $147,239,769, which is way ahead of May of 2025 ($118.1mm) and is the most in a month this year so far. But the really interesting thing is that while 2026 has had 2.5% fewer sales so far than 2025 did through five months, the dollar total closed is 9.9% more! So, prices continue their rise. Now looking directly at the average transaction value, the May average price was $439,522, which is higher than last May, higher than this April and every month so far this year, but still only the sixth best price in the last 17 months.
Ratios: The ratios were a little weird in May, as they were also in April. Oddly, the Sales/List price ratio held in the roughly normal range at 93.86%, while the Sales/Original price ratio jumped another 2% after jumping up by about 2% the month before, landing at 95.53%. I would say that having a higher ratio of Sales/Original than Sales/List is upside down. Normally the Sales/List is higher because the list price has been reduced to promote more interest. But, last month (April) they were very close to one another, and then in May they inverted. I’m not sure what caused that, but I would look for it to correct itself in the June numbers.
Days on Market: The “Days on Market” metric continued its slow, feather-like settling down in May. At 100 days, it’s now near the lows of last year. And of course, shorter (lower) is better.
COUNTY BY COUNTY:
Cherokee County, NC: Cherokee unit sales finally in May turned the tables and began to try closing the gap between the 2026 and 2025 unit sales. This May beat May 2025 by 11 units, coming in at 39 vs 28. However 2026’s total sales units is still behind 2025 with 144 vs 176 over 5 months. The gap has been cut though from 30% behind to now 18% behind. Sadly, even as sales units were making progress catching-up, the average price in May surprisingly took a drop to $262,067. By comparison, the average price in April was 304K and last year in May was $301K. Let’s hope someone just sold several lots in May that pulled the numerical average price down, but will self-correct in June.
Clay County, NC: Clay County had experienced a fairly sleepy start to 2026, but April showed some upward mobility and then May came in with a strong 31 units sold. Last May was only 18, so this May was a good month. This brings Clay to the point where they are only 9 sales behind the first five months of 2025. Looks like the passing lane for Clay County in June. But not only did Clay have a very good month in unit sales in May, it also had a very good month in terms of average price jumping to $396,024. That is the best average price since last June and July, so we’ll be looking for even stronger pricing over the next two months.
Fannin County, GA: Last May Fannin had pretty good unit sales, and this May it came in with only one less at 69. So, for the YTD, Fannin has seen a total of 334 sales over the first five months compared to 342 this time last year. Last month we were a bit rattled by a significant drop in average price in Fannin to just over $507K, but in May the average price rebounded nicely to $603,361. That’s the second best price this year, and way above May 2025, but is still below the overall 2025 average of almost $615K. So, even though Fannin turns over the most properties and has the highest pricing overall in this area, it still has some recovering to do to get back to past glory.
Gilmer County, GA: Gilmer County’s unit sales came in at 83, which was a good month. It’s higher than last month and last year, and is the first month this year where sales exceeded the same month of 2025. For the YTD, Gilmer has had 25 fewer units sold than the first five months of 2025. So far this year the average sale price hasn’t been a bright spot either. But, in May, the average price popped upward to $445,874, which is the third highest monthly average across all of 2025 and 2026 so far. For comparison, the average sale price across all of 2025 was $395K, so May had a healthy price in addition to an uptick in units sold.
Towns County, GA: The May units sold of 23 in Towns sagged just a bit from April’s 25. That means Towns is now one unit behind 2025 at this point instead of being one unit ahead through April. Basically then, sales so far this year are virtually the same as they were in 2025. On prices, the odd is the norm in Towns’ statistics. In March the average price had fallen dramatically, and then made a very serious comeback in April. So in May, at $382,830, it just eased some and remains fairly close to the 2025 average price of $371K. So, in general, Towns County is not far from just repeating last year in real estate.
Union County, GA: Union too is running along the path we ran in 2025. In fact, the unit sales in May was 56, which is exactly the same number of units sold last May 2025. For the YTD, Union is still just 5 units behind 2025 at 231 vs 236. The average price in Union seems to be holding well at $382,830, which is down from April, but much better than March. And, $382,830 is certainly better than the $345K average price across the 2025 year
RESIDENTIAL: This year so far the residential average price has bounced around uncharacteristically, with April falling off a good bit, but in May the average recovered again to $542,412. We had expected a rebound in May, and got it. This is a pretty good spot too since last year’s average price was $521K.
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 May popped up to 15 from 10 in April. That pace is pulling the 2026 monthly average up, which is now just above 12 per month. The price per acre in May at $14,218 was good news too as it came in almost $2000 higher than in April. So land sales are trending the right way.
