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Best Atlanta Sub-Market Bucking the Housing Trends With An Even Brighter Future: Decatur

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As part of the selection process for the 2011 Curbed Atlanta Awards, we reached out to professionals and experts in the worlds of real estate development & investment, architecture, community development and preservation to solicit their well-informed opinions on projects and programs from 2011 that are worthy of a Curbed Award. Here now is one such award bestowed by Friend of Curbed Jon Effron, the impresario behind the A is for Atlanta blog and Associate Broker with Keller Williams Realty Intown Atlanta.


While the big real estate headlines tend to focus on a macro-view of the market (I'm looking at you, Case-Shiller), there are plenty of sub-markets that are defying the trends. There's perhaps no brighter star in the Atlanta metro market right now than Decatur. In Decatur, the average sales price rose from $348,538 to $362,624 from 2010 to 2011. A 4% bump in average sales price isn't too shabby, nor is the 6% increase in total sales volume (209 sales in 2010, YTD vs. 223 in 2011). And if rising real estate prices aren't enough for you, Decatur is set to reap the greatest rewards if the region approves the penny tax in the upcoming T-SPLOST vote. Decatur will benefit from the two largest projects on the list: a MARTA line that will connect downtown Decatur to Emory and Buckhead, and access via the eastbound MARTA line to light rail on the Atlanta BeltLine's east side. If the T-SPLOST is passed and the projects move forward, the city will become an even more attractive housing market to those looking for a home located in a slice of Atlanta that's actually friendly to pedestrian and mass transit. -Jon Effron