May 13, 2024
Report: Rent In Atlanta Increasing 3 Times As Fast As Wages
Zillow reported that this concerning trend has been going on in metro ATL since 2019.
According to a report from real-estate marketplace company Zillow, rent in Atlanta has been growing almost three times faster than the wages in metro Atlanta area since the COVID-19 pandemic, WSBTV reports. From 2019 to 2023, rent increased 35.6% while wages increased by 12.2%.
Nationally, the rent and wage trend had been similar until 2022, when “rent went up 30.4% and wages increased by 20.2% across major metro areas during that time.” According to Zillow, in 2023 the trend switched. Rent increased by 3.4%, and wages increased by 4.3% across most major metro areas. Not in metro Atlanta: Reports showed that rents went up by 0.3% and wages increased by only 0.2% in the last year.
According to the report, “Demand for rentals from the large millennial generation—many of whose members have remained renters longer than previous cohorts—and Gen Z adults have run headlong into the country’s housing shortage, causing rents to quickly rise.”
Zillow said the countrywide trend likely improved due to “strong multifamily construction [helping to] absorb demand for apartments, keeping rent growth in check in much of the country.”
Atlanta residents took to X to comment on the findings.
One user recounted their experience moving to Atlanta in 2019. They wrote, “I moved to Atlanta in 2018, a week after graduation. I was here for 6 months and your average rent for a high-rise apartment was about $1.1K-$1.4K in the ponce city market area, midtown, Buckhead, etc. When I moved back in 2022, apartments were between $1.6K-2.2K for something nice.”
“I thought I was leaving the DMV for cheaper rent but no! Rent in Atlanta has become just as high as rent in DC. I lost it when I saw an apartment going for $1800 in Duluth. Georgia needs rent control badly.”
Another user wrote, “ATL has never been known for wages .. most folks I knew were working 2 jobs 20 years ago to get by.. now it seems 2 jobs don’t seem to cut it. You need to make a minimum of 85, 000 per year to live in the metro.”
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