Study: Not even IT wages are keeping up with Atlanta’s rising rents (Alpharetta: apartments, for rent)

[LynnHarris1]

Metro Atlanta sees the biggest gap between rising rents and tech wage growth, analysis finds

The ATL has become known for its thriving IT job market, and there are no signs job growth in that sector will be waning soon.

However, the folks with those IT jobs may be finding it harder to track down an affordable place to live..."

FULL STORY: https://atlanta.curbed.com/2019/4/5/...s-rising-rents

SOURCE: Curbed Atlanta

[ATLTJL]

One of the big problems of renting.

Guess when your rent never goes up? When you have a mortgage.

Property taxes can go up, but they aren't generally subject to fluctuations as wild. One of the reasons I bought was because I got so sick of my rent going up two, three, and even four times as much as my annual raises. It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that's not leading anywhere good.

[testa50]

That's a ridiculous study. The ratio between IT wages and rents are very similar in Atlanta to most of the other cities (Nashville, Austin, Denver, etc). San Francisco is way worse than everyone else, Omaha and Kansas City are somewhat better, and all the other cities are virtually the same. The rate of change of these variables over the last 3 years is not important; rent growth in 2016 is not relevant to rent growth in 2019.

[2Easy]

However, right now, average metro Atlanta rents clock in at $1,261 per month, while the average tech wage is $90,800,

To say "not keeping up" is misleading as they are already way ahead of the average rent. The average tech wage likely has more purchasing power in Atlanta than most comparable cities. If you go by that list the two cities with similar numbers of total jobs are San Jose and San Francisco. They make 30% more than Atlanta, but their average rents are 150% more.

[2Easy]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

One of the big problems of renting.

Guess when your rent never goes up? When you have a mortgage.

Property taxes can go up, but they aren't generally subject to fluctuations as wild. One of the reasons I bought was because I got so sick of my rent going up two, three, and even four times as much as my annual raises. It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that's not leading anywhere good.

Guess when you never have to replace your roof? Or fix a plumbing leak? Or install new cabinets? Or get new tile? And on and on. It's when you rent.

Owning a home and keeping it in good shape has very significant costs beyond your mortgage and property tax. That's why renting can be competitive or even cheaper.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by 2Easy

Guess when you never have to replace your roof? Or fix a plumbing leak? Or install new cabinets? Or get new tile? And on and on. It's when you rent.

Owning a home and keeping it in good shape has very significant costs beyond your mortgage and property tax. That's why renting can be competitive or even cheaper.

Those are good points. But on everything you list it is optional except plumbing and roof. The roof has options such as patching or putting off. The point is you have a bit of time flex.
When rent goes up you have no control over when and how much.

[citidata18]

As others have stated, there's a lot that goes into owning a home. This is from the perspective, BTW, of someone who lives on the much chagrin Southside of Atlanta in the eyes of young professionals for the reasons I will state

First of all, a home is an investment. You certainly don't want to rush to buy in an area that's going downhill or will offer limited appreciation in your property value by the time you're ready to sell.

Second, not everyone can control their job security or location. If you were laid off and there are limited opportunities in the general vicinity, you're pretty much screwed in terms of new employee/career growth when you're handcuffed to a deed and can't easily relocate.

Third, with the historically high labor and construction costs today, there's little in the way of supply being added to the market and thus the price for homes relative to the quality you're getting is completely out of whack. Besides the difficulty you will have with saving enough money to afford a home, you will most likely be competing in vicious bidding wars for the properties you want (which are virtually stick built ****boxes)

It's not as simple as "Can I haz fixed mortgage!?"

[jhtrico1850]

Originally Posted by 2Easy

To say "not keeping up" is misleading as they are already way ahead of the average rent. The average tech wage likely has more purchasing power in Atlanta than most comparable cities. If you go by that list the two cities with similar numbers of total jobs are San Jose and San Francisco. They make 30% more than Atlanta, but their average rents are 150% more.

If you're an average IT person, Atlanta may be more affordable. If you're a top tier person that can work for Google or Facebook, you may be ahead in California, even with higher housing costs.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/...goog-nflx.html

The median worker at Facebook earns more than $240,000 per year.

That's more than three times what the typical worker at PayPal makes and still more than $40,000 per year what the median employee at Google parent Alphabet makes.

Other numbers
Facebook median pay:$240,430
Alphabet median pay: $197,274
Splunk median pay: $256,370
Palo Alto median pay: $223,885
Netflix median pay: $183,304

[NorthAtlanta]

Rents are definitely going up. While the average rent mentioned in the article is close to $1300, in the nicer areas rents for 2 bedroom apartments are already close to or greater than $2000. They just listed a town home for rent for $3800 across the street from where we live in Alpharetta. 4 to 5 years ago $3800 in monthly rent was unthinkable..

[Atlwarrior]

I guess people miss this part in the Curbed Atlanta article, "However, right now, average metro Atlanta rents clock in at $1,261 per month, while the average tech wage is $90,800, per the study. As housing demand continues to rise, so, too, will apartment prices." Doesn't look like they have a problem too me.