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Buying a Luxury Home in the Southeast

If you're thinking about downsizing or moving to a new location, perhaps to live in your dream locale or to be near family, you'll want to understand what's happening with the current housing market.

The last several years saw an extreme sellers' market, with high demand for housing and low supply, which has led to rising house prices. Across the country, home prices rose 18.6% year-over-year from 2020 to 2021.1 The housing market varies, though, based on location and price point, so keeping general trends in mind, you'll still need to do a deep dive for your area when getting ready to sell or buy.

If you're thinking of selling your current home and wish to buy a luxury home in the Southeast this year, it helps to be prepared for what you might find.

 

Selling your home in the current market

You should fare well if you're thinking of selling your home.2 The last time house prices increased this much were the years leading up to the financial crisis of 2008. But today's market is different.3

The similarity to 2008 is the skyrocketing home prices of this past year. For example, in Atlanta, the median house price rose an astounding 23% from January 2021 to January 2022.4 Miami-Dade County's home prices rose 14.8% from December 2020 to December 2021.5 Despite rising prices, most markets are still experiencing high demand and low inventory.

Atlanta is a great example of this latest real estate trend. In the chart below, courtesy of InfoSparks from ShowingTime, you can see how many days luxury homes have been staying on the market for sale.6 Note that, to qualify as a luxury home in this example, the home must be a detached single-family home with four or more bedrooms, more than 2,500 square feet, and a sales price of at least $600,000. In January 2020, these types of homes were on the market for 62 days. In January 2021, the days on market for these luxury homes dropped to 37, and in January 2022, the days on market plummeted to 12.6

 

Buying a new home in the current market

Buying a new home in the current market is trickier than selling, especially if you wish to downsize, as the demand is even greater for lower-priced homes. Using Atlanta again as an example, detached homes with three bedrooms, 2,001 to 2,500 square feet, and a sales price of between $350,000 and $599,999 stayed on the market for 51 days in January 2020, 28 days in January 2021, and only nine days in January 2022.6 It is notable that in some markets, homes have been selling in just a matter of hours after being listed.7

At this lower price point, Atlanta Realtors are reporting multiple offers, sometimes as many as 30, for one property, and winning bids are often selling for well over asking price. The picture isn't much different at this price point for attached homes (townhouses and condos), which were on the market for 70 days in January 2020, 43 days in January 2021 and 13 days in January 2022.6

Buying and selling historical trends

Whether you want to sell or buy a house, you should be aware of how much inventory is for sale. Your real estate agent can find out the statistics for your area. Looking at a historical view of inventory in Atlanta again gives you an idea of the overall trend. In the luxury market (4+ bedroom detached homes with a sales price of $600,000+ and more 2,500 square feet), there were 2,718 homes for sale in January 2020, 1,554 in January 2021 and 1,261 in January 2022.6

In the downsize category (sales price of $350,000 to $599,000, detached homes of 2,001 to 2,500 square feet with three bedrooms), there were 292 homes for sale in January 2020, 167 in January 2021, and 232 in January 2022.6

If you keep the smaller size but go up in price to the luxury category of a sales price of $600,000 or more, there were 79 homes for sale in January 2020, 50 in January 2021, and 53 in January 2022.6

Given the limited inventory at certain price points and house sizes, you might need to be flexible and expand your buying wish list if inventory is low in your area. The trend points to people selling their large homes and downsizing, so if that is also your intent, you'll need to be prepared for competition on both the selling and buying sides.

 

Hottest real estate markets

Before you put your home on the market—and decide where to search for you new one—it's helpful to understand current geographic trends in the housing market. One trend is clear: The hottest and most desirable markets to buy a home in the U.S. in 2022 were mostly located here in the Southeast.

Tampa, FL, was expected to be the No. 1 real estate market in the country for home buyers from a combination of forecasted home value growth, how quickly homes are selling, the demand for homes, and a strong job market.10 Here are the top 10 markets, with most of them in the Southeast:

 

  1. Tampa, FL
  2. Jacksonville, FL
  3. Raleigh, NC
  4. San Antonio, TX
  5. Charlotte, NC
  6. Nashville, TN
  7. Atlanta, GA
  8. Phoenix, AZ
  9. Orlando, FL
  10. Austin, TX

To learn more, read our 2023 Housing Market Forecast article.  

 

Important disclosure information

This content is general in nature and does not constitute legal, tax, accounting, financial or investment advice. You are encouraged to consult with competent legal, tax, accounting, financial or investment professionals based on your specific circumstances. We do not make any warranties as to accuracy or completeness of this information, do not endorse any third-party companies, products, or services described here, and take no liability for your use of this information.

  1. Brenda Richardson, "2021 Housing Market Frenzy Concludes With Double-Digit Price Growth," Forbes, published January 6, 2022, accessed March 2, 2022. Back
  2. Devon Thorsby, "What to Expect from the Housing Market in 2022," U.S. News & World Report, published December 15, 2021, accessed March 2, 2022. Back
  3. Ramsey, "Housing Market Predictions 2022: Will It Crash or Boom?" published February 9, 2022, accessed March 2, 2022. Back
  4. Marco Santarelli, "Atlanta Real Estate Market: Prices|Trends|Forecasts2022," Norada Real Estate Investments, published February 25, 2022, accessed March 2, 2022. Back
  5. Miami Realtors, "Miami Real Estate's Historic 2021 Has Best December Ever; New Records for Total Home Sales, Total Dollar Volume," published January 20, 2022. Back
  6. InfoSparks, ShowingTime Market Stats, accessed March 2, 2022. Back
  7. Marco Santarelli, "Housing Market Predictions 2022: Is Crash Coming Next?" Norada Real Estate Investments, published March 2, 2022, accessed March 2, 2022. Back
  8. Jon Reed, "Mortgage Rates Are Back Above 4% for the First Time Since 2019. Experts Say That May Not Be a Problem for Homebuyers," Time, published February 20, 2022, accessed March 2, 2022. Back
  9. Nick Timiraos, "Fed Raises Interest Rates for First Time Since 2018," Wall Street Journal, published March 17, 2022, accessed April 5, 2022. Back
  10. Treh Manhertz, "Why Tampa will be 2022's Hottest Market," Zillow, published January 4, 2022, accessed March 2, 2022. Back