Our March 2021 regional snapshot presents a detailed look at housing market indicators from pre- and post- “pandemic era”. Key points are:

  • Pandemic period surveys, e.g. ARC’s Metro Atlanta Speaks, show that a significant share of residents lack full confidence that they can make upcoming payments.
  • Atlanta home price increases, while still in the middle of the pack among other US metros, have surged to a point at which prices are well above the bubble levels pre- 2008 recession.
  •  Supply is increasingly constrained, putting more upward pressure on prices: building permits continue to increase post-Great Recession, even (for single-family) during the pandemic, but are still barely above half the levels of the early 2000s; the few available homes are taking less and less time to sell.
  •  The gap between observed (market level) and affordable rents is widening, particularly for low-income renters. Over 80% of renter households earning less than $30,000 pay 30% or more of their income for rent, and the burden is “spreading upward” to higher levels of income.
  • Racial disparities are pronounced; spatial segregation exacerbates the inequities of cost burden; for every four percentage point increase in the share of a given tract’s population comprised by persons of color, there is a one percentage point increase in that tract’s share of households paying 30% or more of their income for housing.
  • Forecasts indicate a need to build 4,700 units annually from 2020-2015, just to address the needs of households earning less than 70% of the region’s are amedian income as defined by US Housing and Urban Development; yet, addressing this supply gap would not ‘guarantee’ (more) affordability.

For (much) more, click through the slides below or download the Regional Snapshot: Housing (March 2021)

Our recent series of housing posts has documented the Atlanta Region’s (and nation’s)  housing affordability crisis. There are a large number of “layers to the onion” of housing costs, as there are as many complexities in the areas of housing supply, housing prices, and so forth. Public policy can’t solve this set of challenges on its own, but it has been a tool historically and can continue to serve as such. The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC)  has developed and intends to refine over time a Metro Atlanta Housing Strategy to grapple with the manifold issues around affordability.  To further explore the topic,  please visit the Regional Housing Data Explorer  and  Evictions Tracker, as well as (for housing data and much, much more) DataNexus. Watch this blog for more posts on housing as the policies evolve, conditions change, and (let’s all hope) the pandemic unwinds.