{ August 4th, 2011 }
Housing Market Sickness?
Nothing like waking up to news of Atlanta making another Top 10 list, especially when the headline reads “America’s Ten Sickest Housing Markets“. Now that’s a morale booster!
Interesting read, but it’s so focused on the forest that it fails to note that the majority of us live within the trees. In this case, they are most likely viewing Atlanta as a 28 county area. As I’ve said before, the cluster home developments in Clayton County have nothing to do with the Brookhaven townhome market, and both have little in common with the bungalows of Decatur, which clearly don’t resemble the McMansions that dot the golf courses of North Fulton.
Does that mean that the Atlanta housing market is burgeoning?
Hardly. There is obviously truth behind the numbers presented in the article: 5.4% home vacancy rates and 9.7% unemployment. But before we start panicking that world is coming to an end (like many of the commentors seem to be doing on the AJC’s reporting of the article), let’s take all take a deep breath and look for a more measured approach.
And by the way, can someone explain to me how Atlanta “beat” Detroit on this list? I’m not trying to pick on Detroit, but how does a city that’s in the process of converting entire neighborhoods into urban farms not qualify as the sickest housing market in the country?
