What’s happening in Olde Town Neighborhood? Olde Town has experienced an explosion of popularity over the last year. Loads of young professionals, families, and investors have turned their focus to this historic neighborhood.
One factor impacting Olde Town is the recent relocation of Army Cyber to Fort Gordon, the development of the Georgia Cyber Center downtown. This has brought lots of young tech workers downtown, and many of them are urban and want walkable neighborhoods.
Also contributing is the changing neighborhood rental demographics. Years ago, most of the rental product in Olde Town was section 42 or section 8, but many of those tax credits have expired, and most of those units have become market-rate–meaning that over 100 rental units have renovated and updated, and turned into homes and apartments aimed at young professionals.
Many young families with children and single young professionals, (primarily women) have moved into the neighborhood. Years ago, gritty pioneers lived in Olde Town, that is changing. One effect this is having is on real estate values. We track real estate prices pretty carefully—and overall we’ve seen a steep climb in real estate prices. Click here to download the most recent Sales Market Report. We’ve seen values per sf go from around $60/SF in 2016, to around $85 in 2020—and climbing! We’re seeing the main barrier to sales being appraisals—meaning that prices are rising faster than the comps and appraisals will allow.
We’ve also seen the rents rise in the neighborhood. Click here to Download the most recent rent study. Not only are new tenants willing to pay more, but also investors have started repositioning their apartment units to cater to a more sophisticated tenant, upgrading units with granite countertops, new appliances, and premium finishes. We do our best to track rental rates, and we’ve seen a 12% increase in rents over the past three years.
Many investors have purchased investment properties and are currently renovating, and I think we’ll see a lot of new premium apartments hit the market towards the end of the year. There are lot of homes being renovated, lots of properties under contract, new neighbors and families moving in, and overall the neighborhood seems to be growing and improving quickly.