Atlanta’s home prices were up an average of 6.1 percent during the past year, beating the 5.3 percent average gain for the nation’s large metro areas, according to a much-watched national survey released this morning.
That placed Atlanta seventh-strongest among the largest 20 metro areas.
Fastest growing were Seattle, where prices grew an average of 10.4 percent, Portland, which was up 10.1 percent and Denver, which rose 8.7 percent. Also ahead of Atlanta were Dallas and Tampa, which saw prices rise 8.1 percent for the year, said Case-Shiller.
Atlanta's trajectory includes a stall-out as the winter set in, with average home prices flat in the last measurement, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index, a calculation based on a three-month average.
For that month, the top 20 metros saw an average increase of 0.2 percent.
However, when adjusted for seasonal patterns, Atlanta looked slightly stronger, moving up 1.0 percent during the most recent month, according to Case-Shiller. That put metro Atlanta at fifth-fastest price increase for the month behind Boston, New York, Denver and Tampa.
Of course, averages can be misleading and the gains in Atlanta have been uneven.
Some parts of the metro area have barely limped out of the recession, experts say.
However, Atlanta – like the larger, national picture – may be finally putting the crash of the housing market and the painful recession to rest, argued David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
“One can argue that the housing market has recovered from the boom-bust cycle that began a dozen years ago,” he said today.
But home prices must always be seen in context, and affordability is threatened, the faster prices rise.
The “familiar forces” of high demand and limited supply are continuing to push home prices up faster than most American incomes, said Svenja Gudell, chief economist for Zillow.
“Rising mortgage interest rates will also impact home affordability, if only modestly at first, which could also erode some of the affordability advantages of buying over renting and further cooling demand,” she said.
About the Author
