Ask ten real estate agents whether buyers or sellers have the advantage right now, and most will hand you the same unsatisfying answer: it depends. That’s not a dodge. It’s the honest read on where things actually stand.
Nationally, sellers hold more than a fifty-one percent edge in numbers over buyers, and close to eighty percent of major U.S. markets have already tipped in buyers’ favor. But a countrywide average can’t tell you what’s happening on your specific street, so we’re going to break down what actually decides market advantage, look at two cities on opposite ends of the spectrum, and then get specific about Cobb and Cherokee County.
What Actually Determines Whether Buyers or Sellers Have the Advantage?
The single number that answers this question is months of supply. In plain terms, it’s how long the current inventory would last if nothing new got listed and homes kept selling at today’s pace.
Most agents treat five to six months as the balance point. Fall under that, and sellers usually have the leverage, since buyers are competing for a shrinking pool of homes. Climb past it, and buyers gain room to negotiate, because they have more to choose from and less reason to rush.
I’d push that further. The shift from a seller’s advantage to a buyer’s advantage isn’t one hard line. There’s a real gray area, roughly four to six months depending on the area, where neither side clearly controls the negotiation.
Which Cities Are Tilting Hardest Toward Buyers or Sellers Right Now?
Pull back to the national picture and the tilt toward buyers is hard to miss: sellers outnumber buyers by a margin north of fifty-one percent, with something like four out of every five major markets now favoring buyers.
Some cities show that shift more dramatically than others. Miami and Nashville sit among the top five buyer’s markets in the country, where sellers are competing hard and buyers can genuinely push back on price and terms.
Flip to the other end and you get places like Nassau County, New York, one of the strongest seller’s markets left. Buyers there still outnumber available homes, so a shopper can find themselves bidding against other buyers for the same house.
Where Does the Atlanta Metro Fall on That Spectrum?
Metro Atlanta sits somewhere in the middle, and exactly where depends on which report you’re reading. Some data puts the core Atlanta metro around three point eight months of supply, which still tilts toward sellers.
Look at the broader eleven-county metro area instead, and that number climbs closer to five point four months, right at the edge of balanced. A single metro-wide figure only tells you so much, though. The real picture comes from zooming in county by county.
What's Actually Happening in Cobb and Cherokee County Right Now?
July’s numbers put Cobb County at three point nine months of supply, a five percent climb over last year. Cherokee County isn’t far off at four point one months, roughly two and a half percent higher than a year ago.
Rewind to early 2022 and both counties were sitting at well under one month of supply, the height of the pandemic market, when there was almost nothing on the shelf and homes were gone in days. Supply has climbed steadily since then, with a few ups and downs along the way, landing where we are today.
The real answer: Cobb and Cherokee County are sitting right in that neutral zone. Not deep into buyer’s-market territory like Miami or Nashville, but nowhere close to the frantic seller’s market this area was living through just a few years ago. If supply keeps trending up, the balance keeps tilting further toward buyers.
What that means if you’re thinking about selling: the days of a sign in the yard and offers rolling in on their own are behind us for now. Buyers have real options, so your home has to earn the extra attention.
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Make Sure Your Home Stands Out in This Market
In a market this balanced, the homes that earn the strongest offers are the ones that get extra attention before they ever list. My free Home Value Maximizer shows you exactly where to focus, based on what buyers here are actually responding to.
Ken Mandich is a Realtor® and Listing Expert with Complete Realty Team, serving Metro Atlanta with a focus on Cobb and Cherokee County. You can reach him at 404-410-6465 or [email protected].
