by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman
July 30, 2024
A new study has revealed that the median Atlanta home is overpriced. The city ranked second in most inflated housing in the nation.
Economists at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) calculated that housing premiums in Atlanta are at 40.4%, with the median housing price reaching $430,000, as reported by Fox 5. One economist, Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D., attributes the inflated price to population growth in the area. Estimates from the U.S. Census also made the city the third-fastest growing metropolitan area in 2023, per WSB-TV.
The FAU study reached these conclusions after comparing housing cost on Zillow, which provided a more accurate estimation versus what the homes sell for. However, Johnson considers the overpriced costs to be a result of supply-and-demand issues. Despite this, he does not expect a housing bust in the city.
“I don’t think you will see a bust,” said Johnson to WSB-TV. “What you are going to see in Atlanta, and other places, is we are going to have a flat period in terms of property appreciation.”
According to Johnson, homeowners may not see the propertys’ values increase, and possibly would sell for the same price. On the other hand, the city has implemented new affordability programs to increase homeownership among its residents.
Moreover, Atlanta currently ranks as fifth in the nation for Black homeownership. However, the gap between Black and white homeowners in the U.S. remains. According to Statista, this difference was at 28.6 percent in 2023.
Despite these concerns, Atlanta has made significant strides in providing opportunities for affordable housing, especially given its large Black population.
“Atlanta, like every other major metro area in the county, does have a racial gap in home ownership, in wealth and in incomes,” explained Rob Warnock, senior research associate at Apartment List, to Saporta Report. “But relatively speaking, being a large metro with a black homeownership rate above 50 percent, there’s only a handful of them and Atlanta is one of them.”
However, the rising costs of homeownership still loom over residents. With this in mind, housing is emerging as an important issue across the state of Georgia.
