Study shows home prices booming in Atlanta

ATLANTA — A key report on home prices shows Atlanta's market continues to boom.

The Case-Shiller Home Price Index shows the rebound in metro Atlanta is outpacing the average big city by 50 percent.

In analyzing the report, Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland found there are only four cities where prices have risen more than Atlanta in the past year.

New home buyer Preston Wang is the first buyer in the Mabry Manor sub-division. He says if he didn't pay the full asking price, someone else would have.

"We didn't ask to get a single penny discount," Wang told said.

"It's been a crazy year," realtor Terry Burger told Strickland.

Burger says demand for new homes is still outstripping supply.

"We'd find every time after we'd go out, if we didn't move quickly on a place it would be off the market," buyer Ray Stack said.

The shortage drives prices higher. The last Case-Shiller housing index of the year reports data for October. It shows Atlanta prices up 19 percent compared to the report from the same period in 2012.

A $250,000 home then would go for $297,500 according to the latest index. That's still below
the $356,000 fetched at the peak of the market in the summer of 2007.

"I don't think we've hit the point that some metro areas have, where they're actually back where they were in 2007," Burger said. "We're not there yet, but we're not far off."

To take advantage of the pent up demand, research firm Metrostudy of Decatur reported area housing starts are up 67 percent from 2012. The firm expects another 25 percent increase in 2014.

WSBTV