When it comes to renting and buying in today’s market, the average three-bedroom home can be monetarily draining for families across the nation. With home prices rising faster than wages and wages rising faster than rent prices within the greater Atlanta region, renting is the more financially beneficial choice when searching for a home this year.
Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence for ATTOM, said, “Last year our study concluded that it was more affordable to own than to rent in 60 percent of the markets analyzed. But with mortgage rates doubling, monthly payments for new homeowners rose by 45-50 percent compared to a year ago, even though home price appreciation has slowed down dramatically. This has made renting more affordable in most markets, despite rental rates continuing to rise over the past year.”
According to ATTOM, the leading curator of real estate data nationwide, renting is more affordable than owning in many of the markets across the country. With rising mortgage rates, a declining stock market, high inflation and a multitude of other factors, the expansive run of spiking prices slowed down significantly within the last year. Even with average three-bedroom rent prices rising faster than median sales prices in 46% of the nation’s markets in 2022, renting is still considered the more financially efficient option for average-wage workers.
Home Prices Rising Faster Than Wages
The 2023 ATTOM Rental Affordability Report states that single-family home prices are rising exponentially faster than average weekly wages in all metro Atlanta counties – Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Dekalb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Paulding.
With the 2022 average weekly wage in the greater Atlanta region being $1,155, owning a single-family home in metro Atlanta can potentially be a financial burden for average-wage workers. The average single-family home sales price within Atlanta, and surrounding counties, is approximately $344,450, with some counties’ single-family homes priced in the high $400,000s.
Wages Rising Faster Than Rental Prices
The ATTOM report also proves that average weekly wages are rising faster than the average rental price within seven of the nine metro Atlanta counties listed – Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Paulding.
In 2023, the average three-bedroom rental home has a monthly payment of approximately $1,966. While this may be a 4.2% increase from the previous year, the average weekly wage from 2021 to 2022 increased by 6.1%.
For more information on property and land data from across the United States, visit www.ATTOMData.com.
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