Atlanta homes have become unaffordable, Fed data show

The cost of buying a home in metro Atlanta is now officially considered to be unaffordable, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

The branch’s Home Ownership Affordability Monitor, uses median income for the area, home prices and interest rates to calculate the feasibility for residents to purchase a home. The annual mortgage payment for homes in the metro-Atlanta counties of DeKalb, Gwinnett, Fulton and Dawson now exceeds 30% of the area’s median income. The Atlanta Business Chronicle first reported the data point.

In January, the median income for workers in the metro area of Atlanta was under $73,500 and the median price of a house was about $350,000, according to the bank’s housing monitor.

While the median income rose 1% over the last year, the median price of a home rose a staggering 25%, according to the housing monitor. This is the first time Atlanta-area homes have been considered unaffordable since the bank began tracking monthly housing affordability in Atlanta in January 2014.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has been tracking national home affordability since January 2006. Across the nation, housing affordability is at its lowest since November 2008, according to the monitor.