Atlanta, colloquially referred to as the “capital of the South,” is a large and growing market with interesting investment opportunities. The metropolitan area, officially defined as Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, has a population of over six million and hosts the headquarters of many well-known companies such as Coca-Cola, CNN, and Chick-Fil-A (all of which oddly start with the letter “C”), and has an excellent sports scene anchored by the Hawks (NBA), Braves (MLB), and Falcons (NFL).
In this article, we’ll cover Atlanta’s housing market and economy and offer investing tips by an expert in the city.
Home Prices
Atlanta’s median home price falls around $375k, which is less than the national median by about $50k. Below, you can see that year-over-year growth is falling back to just over 0% after a huge spike during the pandemic.
Prices in Atlanta have been flat and even declining for a while, just like other similarly sized cities such as Dallas. Because price growth is plunging, you might expect prices to continue falling in the near future. However, this wouldn’t deter me from investing in Atlanta, as there is still strong demand. For instance, look at this sample of data from Redfin:
Clearly, plenty of people are setting their sights on Atlanta, just like many other destinations in the South. This should help buoy prices throughout the rest of the correction and help Atlanta continue to grow.
Plus, when we factor in what’s going on with supply, it’s pretty clear that the imbalance of supply and demand is still propping up home prices.
As you can see in the chart above, new listings are currently reaching new lows, and inventory is dropping off a cliff. Days on market (DOM) is rising, despite the market dynamics at play, but I’ll note that the…