According to data collected from the Chatham County Register of Deeds Office and the Tax Office the total annual value of the Chatham County real estate market is projected to be close to $1.2 billion dollars in 2024. This is slightly smaller than the market was in 2023.  The market peaked at over $1.7 billion in 2022 after reaching nearly  $1.5 billion in 2021. This means the overall market for 2024 is projected to be nearly 30% smaller in volume than it was in 2022. This is due in part to a lack of supply.  

For context, before the crash of 2008 the market was approximately $700 million and hit a low $332 million in volume in 2010 before slowly rebounding over time and growing in size by over 400% by 2022.  In contrast the population grew over 25.1% during the same period so the size of the market quadrupled in volume while the size of the population increased from 63,845 to 79,864.

The median sales price today in Chatham County is approximately $647,750. This means that half of the properties in Chatham County are selling for above $647,750 and half the properties are selling for below $647,750.

Over the past twelve months 34% of the market in Chatham County is below $500,000; 50% is between $500,000 and $1,000,000 and $17% or one out of every six sales is over $1,000,000.

Due to a variety of factors including a lack of supply, the current market of properties for sale  over $1,000,00 has more than doubled to 35% of the market while the number of properties available between $500,000 and $1,000,000 has shrunk from 50% to 44% and the market below $500,000 has shrunk from 34% to 21%.

The size of the submarket of affordable properties below $250,000 has shrunk from 4.6% of the market to 2% of the market and if the submarket is extended up to $375,000 and below its size has shrunk from 11.4% of the market to 7.9% of the market.

The simple fact is that over 92% of the market for available properties in Chatham County today exceeds a price of $375,000.  

Property owners, renters, stakeholders and policy makers need to take a serious look at the inputs and regulatory environment that make affordable home ownership in Chatham County increasingly difficult to achieve.