This decade, Atlanta’s cost of renting, owning went through the roof

Consider this: The City of Atlanta’s average rent in 2010 was just $895.

Those relatively low monthly outlays came amidst a crippling economic recession, of course, but that rent wouldn’t cover half the cost of an entry-level studio now at, say, Hanover Buckhead Village. That’s where studios begin at $1,837 monthly—for 627 square feet.

Anecdotal examples are endless that speak to the contrast in Atlanta’s cost-of-living between 2010 and today, for both renters and buyers. Like many growing U.S. cities and metros, it costs substantially more to live here now; but according to RentCafé analysts, Atlanta ranks among the country’s leaders (or losers) when it comes to rent and home price hikes across the decade that was.

Long gone are the days of those sub-$900 rents across the city.

According to the apartment search site’s analysis, rents in the City of Atlanta have skyrocketed by 65 percent since 2010—up to an average of $1,474.

Changes in the cost of buying standalone houses, condos, and townhomes have been equally dramatic.

Median home prices in the city have nearly doubled since 2010, spiking from $127,000 to $251,000, meaning that “homeownership remains a dream on hold” for many Atlantans, per RentCafé’s most recent 2019 data and summary.

The rent spikes in particular came during a groundswell of apartment construction, leading to more options.

City of Atlanta officials recently told Curbed Atlanta that nearly 33,000 multifamily units had been permitted between 2011 and this past summer, from Buckhead Village and West End to downtown Kirkwood.

Per RentCafé’s findings, roughly 71,000 apartments were delivered across the metro in the past decade.

Another RentCafé statistic pertaining to metro Atlanta that’s worth noting: Urban renters considered high-earners (incomes over $150,000) have nearly doubled to 33,000 since 2010.