Heatmap: Atlanta rents cool overall, though East Atlanta, Kirkwood spike

First, the good news for renters: After several years of unbridled rent spikes across the City of Atlanta, data from 2016 suggest that trend might finally be cooling off, broadly speaking.

The roughly 5,000 new units that hit the market in 2016 had a softening effect. Across the board, Atlanta rents ticked up by a relatively moderate 4.5 percent last year, suggesting that supply might be gaining steam on overall demand, according to a study released today by apartment search website RENTCafe.

That doesn’t mean all sections of Atlanta were immune to ballooning rents in 2016.

Predictably, hot zones like Midtown and Old Fourth Ward experienced price hikes last year, but nowhere skyrocketed like East Atlanta’s 30316 zip code, where the Curbed Cup currently resides (coincidentally or not).

The EAV and its eastside surroundings took the rent-spike crown for 2016 with a 13.5-percent increase, per the study. That was followed by Kirkwood and adjacent areas (zip code 30317), where rents jumped 9.5 percent.

It’s worth noting the study tabulated rents only at multifamily properties with 50 or more units. So rental houses weren’t accounted for. And zip codes with few apartment complexes were subject to greater fluctuations in percentages.

On the flip-side, traditionally high-priced areas of Atlanta—the Buckhead and Peachtree Hills areas—actually recorded declines of up to 2.2 percent last year. That’s not a significant downturn, especially for high-roller renters, but it’s a jolting reversal of post-recession trends.

For further wonky exploration, the interactive heatmap is below. (Red, fittingly, signifies piping-hot rent increases).

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And the broader perspective, per RENTCafe’s analysis:

• Atlanta Suburbs Beat City with Fastest Growing Rents in 2016 [RENTCafe]