- Property listings are rising fast in the metro Atlanta area
- Property prices likely to decline for at least a few more months
- Renting is slightly cheaper than buying now
Buying a home in the metro Atlanta area? Waiting a few more months could potentially save you thousands
Atlanta has recently been ranked as one of the top five most desirable place to live across North America. The city has much to offer its residents. Atlanta has plentiful jobs, affordable housing, top-notch education institutions (Georgia Tech, Emory University, etc.) and amazing amenities. Metro Atlanta population has grown by 1.7% in 2022, well above the country’s 0.4% increase. The eleven-county Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta region now boost a population of 6 million, the eighth largest in the US. Little wonder many Atlanta implants are planning to buy a home in Atlanta — if not now then eventually.
But for Atlantans, is it a good time to buy real estate now? Are you better off waiting before buying a home in Atlanta? That’s a tough question. On the one hand, interest rates are near multi-years high (6.75% for a 30-year mortgage as of this writing). On the other, rent soared by a whopping 9% in October compared to last year. Many Atlantans are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Making things even more complex, it costs approximately the same to rent or buy now, according to ApexaVision.com’s real estate dashboard. The basic economic costs to own a home consists of interest costs, property taxes, and home insurance. A four-bedroom rental unit costs $2,380 per month to rent in the popular neighborhood of Duluth in metro Atlanta. Meanwhile, we estimate current home ownership costs $2,509 per month. Home ownership is $129 higher than the average rental costs, roughly what you would spend on a night out with your buddies in the Midtown area.
Check out ApexaVision’s free real estate dashboard for zip code level data and estimates.
Waiting a few months could save you thousands
While the ownership and rental costs are very similar, it might pay to wait a few months, even if you’ve already decided to buy a home in Atlanta. Active listings in the metro Atlanta area have been rising and prices have been falling, according to Realtor.com data.
Historically, prices lag active listing trends by about four months. As recently as September 2022 (most recently available data), the number of active listings is still expanding. If this historical relationship and lag-time between active listings and prices hold, we can see property prices fall for at least another four months (until January 2023) in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta region, even if active listings start falling in October.
Median listing prices have already declined from a peak of $448,225 in Jun-2022 to $419,900 in Sep-2022. This is a drop of $28,325. Bottom line: with property listings still on the rise, you might be better off waiting before buying in metro Atlanta. Time seems to be on the buyers’ side. Waiting a few more months could potentially save you thousands of your hard-earned dollars. But if you see property listings start falling again, then prices could rise yet again.
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