Macon is on Top 10 lists as a hub for out-of-town renters, and prices keep rising. Why?
While the housing crunch has intensified across the country recently, Macon in particular has seen a rampant increase in rental prices in 2022.
A recent study from Rent.com placed Macon in the Top 10 of metro areas receiving out-of-town renter interest from July to September of this year. The study confirms the recent explosion of rental prices in the area.
Is there something in particular that draws out-of-town renters to Middle Georgia?
“A lot of that has to do with affordability,” said Angela Taylor, Managing Broker with Coldwell Banker Access Realty in Macon. “What they can afford here versus say Atlanta, is a lot more, and they’re close enough that they can get into the city for something.”
Taylor said that Macon’s geography also plays a big role in the influx of renters. As the main destination in Middle Georgia, Macon acts as a central point for most of the major cities in Georgia.
The easy commute and sizable city appeals to many. When the New York Times includes Macon in its renter friendly study article, it’s clear that the county is a destination.
“We’ve had people from California, Florida, New York,” Taylor said. “People that say, ‘I could live in a whole different place, I could have better weather, I could have less taxes.’”
With such high demand, prices are way up. Even the most basic of one bedroom, one bathroom rental properties in Macon usually approach $900 a month and rarely include any utilities.
“One of the hardest things to find is that entry-level home or rental, just a place where you move out, get on your feet and on your own,” Taylor said. “We need more builders to say ‘I’m going to take this space of land and build smaller homes on it.”
The boom in prices for rentals is even further backed up by the fact that the same Rent.com study lists Atlanta as the third-highest Q3 “lead delta,” or gap between incoming and outgoing renters.
What it boils down to is that when more people move to Macon, the rent market increases. The same trend can be seen in Warner Robins as well.
“We’re seeing an increasing trend as far as the need for rental properties in our community,” said Kate Hogan, Director of Community and Economic Development for the city of Warner Robins. “We’re expecting an increase of over 54% by the end of 2025.”
The Houston County community is growing just as rapidly and acts as a similar hub with affordability. They also have the appeal of lots of schools, which draws in lots of young families, according to Hogan.
“We’re a bigger destination for rural Georgians moving to bigger cities as well, and other people from out-of-state see us as a destination because of a middle ground,” Hogan said.
