Department of Numbers

Atlanta, Georgia Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Georgia metropolitan area using price-to-income and price-to-rent metrics. The maximum affordable loan amount for the median household income is also calculated.

Atlanta, Georgia Home Price-to-Income Index

The current price-to-income ratio for Atlanta is 1.81 as determined by March 2010 Realtor median sales prices. The chart below shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Atlanta HPI series.1 Median household income data for Atlanta is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Atlanta, Georgia Home Price-to-Income Index History

Date FHFA
March 2010 105.7
December 2009 107.5
September 2009 109.4
June 2009 113.9
March 2009 117.4

Atlanta, Georgia Home Price-to-Rent Index

The current price-to-rent ratio for Atlanta is 11.44 as determined by March 2010 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Atlanta. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Atlanta median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Atlanta, Georgia Home Price-to-Rent Index History

Date FHFA
March 2010 107.0
December 2009 108.8
September 2009 110.8
June 2009 115.3
March 2009 118.8

Atlanta, Georgia Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for Atlanta, Georgia and calculating the mortgage 30% of that income could afford. Traditionally, 30% of income is the maximum amount a homeowner could use towards a home loan. Inferred affordable loan values are calculated from ACS median household income and average monthly mortgage rates.

Inferred Affordable Mortgage

Date Inferred Mortgage
May 2010 $286,171
April 2010 $279,408
March 2010 $283,566
February 2010 $282,920
January 2010 $281,635
December 2009 $284,864
November 2009 $286,499
October 2009 $284,214
September 2009 $280,678
August 2009 $276,584
July 2009 $275,653
June 2009 $269,563
May 2009 $287,157

1. Specifically, FHFA data is from the non seasonally adjusted, all-transactions quarterly series.

2. Income data for the previous year is carried into the following year prior to the release of new income data.