Atlanta home rents rising faster than most U.S. cities

Young people are entering the housing market, many of them with white collar salaries that have not suffered during the pandemic. Meanwhile Atlanta’s job growth has outpaced the national average since the depths of the pandemic, he said.

That was the sixth-strongest growth among the nation’s 50 largest metro areas, and it was driven by high occupancy, according to RealPage.

Rent in July alone was up 3% from June, outpacing the 2.2% increase nationally.

The fastest growth was in Phoenix, where rents jumped 21.6% in the past year. Atlanta also ranked behind West Palm Beach, Las Vegas and Tampa and Jacksonville.

Rent increases typically slow down in the second half of the year, according to RealPage.

There also is more uncertainty than in a typical year, though. In addition to the pandemic, a federal ban on evictions is set to expire in early October.

Metro Atlanta, long touted for its affordability, is still far cheaper than the costliest cities in the Northeast or West Coast, but it continues to move up the ranks. Rents here are now $61 a month below the national average, according to RealPage.

Within the metro area, the city of Atlanta has the most expensive rents, averaging $1,600 a month for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,080 for two bedrooms, according to Zumper, a San Francisco apartment listing company. Rents for a two-bedroom apartment in Atlanta were up 10% in the past year.

But the pace of increase was faster in several suburbs, including Duluth and Marietta, where rents rose 20%, according to Zumper.

Average rents, two-bedroom apartment

Atlanta: $2,080

Sandy Springs: $1,900

Alpharetta: $1,810

Smyrna: $1,620

Duluth: $1,620

Lawrenceville: $1,440

Decatur: $1,420

Marietta: $1,240

Source: Zumper