[learc83]

I live in metro Atlanta as well. Look at the actual data instead of cherry picking examples. Housing prices and rent increases have outpaced inflation for years.

Also the city added only about half as many new units last year as it did the year before.

And yes Atlanta is cheaper than other much higher density cities, that's why I said we have the same problem just not on the same scale.

[wil421]

There’s a difference between cherry picking and picking the places you’ve lived or worked.

If you own a house you wouldn’t want the value to meet inflation every year. You want it to gain value. Atlanta is a very affordable city by any measure.

[sarchertech]

Then you can't use those places to generalize Atlanta. The fact is Atlanta isn't adding housing fast enough to keep up with demand. That is the same problem San Fransisco has. It's just not nearly as bad.

>If you own a house you wouldn’t want the value to meet inflation every year. You want it to gain value.

Of course. That's a huge part of the of the problem. Housing can't be both a good investment and affordable. You've basically summed up NIMBYism in 2 sentences.

>Atlanta is a very affordable city by any measure

It is currently more affordable than some cities less affordable than others. But if housing prices keep outpacing inflation and more importantly wage growth, it won't be affordable for long.

[wil421]

Provide some sources about Atlanta not adding housing fast enough I’d love to read it. A recent AJC points out lower interest rates helping out especially in the sub $300k range. This range was the most affordable for first time home buyers. The article points out recent buyer who got a 4 bedroom house in Snellville for $210k.[1] To your point wages haven’t grown as fast as housing costs. Atlanta is also right behind SF in median wage growth.[2]

There’s only one time in the past 30 years where housing prices dropped and people lost money. It wasn’t because of NIMBYism.

[1] https://www.ajc.com/business/real-estate/atlanta-pending-hom...

[2] https://www.ajc.com/business/atlanta-wages-but-not-fast-hous...

[sarchertech]

Housing prices (both buying and renting) are rising faster than inflation or wage growth and occupancy rates are high. That means demand is outstripping supply. We aren't adding housing fast enough to keep up with demand.

And Atlanta added far fewer units in 2018 than 2017 (you can Google the numbers) so we're actually slowing the rate at which we're adding housing.

>There’s only one time in the past 30 years where housing prices dropped and people lost money. It wasn’t because of NIMBYism.

When did I imply that NIMBYism caused housing prices to drop. I said the exact opposite.