It should come as no surprise that Atlanta has been a seller’s market in recent years. Home prices rose by an impressive 283% between 2012 and 2024, with healthy demand in the city, suburbs, and even out in the exurbs.
This has a lot of property owners wondering: When is the best time to sell a house in Atlanta? The answer to this can depend on factors like your neighborhood, the time of year, and the state of the property itself.
Where people are moving to in the Atlanta area
If your house is in a neighborhood with a lot of demand now may be the perfect time to sell, regardless of the time of year. If your neighborhood market is struggling, then you might want to keep factors such as the time of year in mind.
The U.S. Census Department offers data on a range of topics, including where people are taking out loans to finance house purchases. If you review these numbers, you can get a sense of where the Atlanta real estate market is most active.
The most recent data available is from 2022. Using a statistic called “Loans Originated for Home Purchase per Square Mile,” you can see where the most home-buying is taking place. While this is not a complete list of desirable neighborhoods and communities, here are the parts of the Atlanta area that stand out based on total number of loans for home purchases:
Inside the 285 Perimeter
- Midtown
- Buckhead
- Atlantic Station
- Virginia Highlands
- Scottdale
- Inman Park/Candler Park Area
- Peoplestown/Grant Park
- Brookhaven
- Collier Hills area
- Vinings
Outside the 285 Perimeter:
- Smyrna (Cobb County)
- Milton (Fulton County)
- Woodstock (Cherokee County)
- Kennesaw (Cobb County)
- Conyers (Rockdale County)
- Roswell (Fulton County)
- Stone Mountain (DeKalb County)
- Lawrenceville (Gwinnett County)
- Lithonia-Redan Area (DeKalb County)
- Cumming (Forsyth County)
This list includes neighborhoods like Buckhead, which have been in demand with Atlanta buyers for years now. It also includes places like the Lithonia-Redan area in DeKalb County, where small pockets saw a much higher than average number of home loans in 2022.
Some of these areas, like Midtown, have a lot of condos and apartments for sale, which means more loan activity.
If you dive a little deeper into the data, you can find up-and-coming Atlanta neighborhoods like Knight Park/Howell Station, as well as growing suburbs and exurbs like Powder Springs.
When is the Atlanta real estate market’s peak season?
The Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis has excellent data on a range of subjects, including Atlanta real estate. They offer an online resource called FRED, which stands for Federal Reserve Economic Data.
Using FRED, you can find the median number of days that houses in Atlanta stay on the market. The data shows a clear pattern:
- Houses listed in late spring and early to mid-summer spend the least number of days on the market: A high number of home buyers are active during the summer, most likely due to the school year.
- Houses listed in the winter—January in particular—spend the greatest number of days on the market: Winter tends to be the slowest time of year for home purchases.
- Houses listed in the early spring and autumn tend to be in the middle: The market is busy from April to July, slow in January, and rises and falls during early spring and autumn. A reasonable assumption is that the best time to sell a house fast in Atlanta is after February—when the market picks up, and before August—when the market slows back down. The ideal month can vary somewhat, but April, May, and June have been reliably strong since 2016.
Something to remember is that the right house can find buyers any time of year. Some properties actually benefit from being listed in the winter when the market is a little less active. A lot can depend on your neighborhood, your house, and the steps you take to make your house appealing to buyers.
Situations where you might want to sell fast
Even if you live in a thriving part of town and the time of year is just right, there are a lot of situations where you might want to sell your house fast. You may have fire damage, foundation problems, old electrical wiring, or another issue where you are facing repairs. Maybe you just inherited a house that needs cleaning and renovations. Or perhaps you are going to relocate and simply want to sell your home as quickly and conveniently as possible.
If this is your situation, one option you have is to sell with an off-market buyer like HomeVestors®. We buy houses “as is,” which means we don’t expect you to clean or make repairs. Sometimes, we can give you a same-day offer and potentially close in as little as 3 weeks.
Now is always the perfect time to sell with HomeVestors®.
HomeVestors considers many property types, both inside the Perimeter and in the area surrounding Atlanta. We have bought more than 150,000 houses across the country over the last 29 years and have a 95%* nationwide customer satisfaction rating.
We also offer The HomeVestors® Advantage. After you accept our offer, you have the next 3 days to make sure it’s the right fit for you. If not, simply reach out in writing to your property buyer to cancel the sale. Any time of year is the best time to sell a house in Atlanta when you sell with the HomeVestors Atlanta team. All you need to do to get started is get in touch for a quick, no-obligation walkthrough.
