What do you need to earn to buy a house in Atlanta's most expensive ZIP codes?
It's getting more expensive to buy a house in metro Atlanta, and the minimum household income required to live in these affluent neighborhoods is going up.
In March, Atlanta Business Chronicle analyzed home-value data and mortgage rates in the metro area to determine what homebuyers would need to earn to afford specific metro Atlanta neighborhoods. A cool housing market means metro Atlanta's median home price is roughly the same as what it was in March, but mortgage rates have shot up by more than 2% since then. This analysis estimated minimum salary thresholds for 189 Atlanta-area ZIP codes by applying prevailing mortgage rates to a hypothetical home buyer scenario that included the following assumptions:
A 10% down payment applied to the area's median home value
Prevailing mortgage rates for conventional and jumbo loans
A monthly mortgage payment of no more than 30 percent of the buyer's pre-tax income
The 30327 ZIP code that covers Buckhead's wealthiest neighborhoods remains metro Atlanta's most affluent. These neighborhoods include West Peachtree Battle, Paces, and Pleasant Hill. Despite recent cooling in the housing market, all but three ZIP codes analyzed have seen double-digit home price appreciation over the past year. Many have experienced explosive annual growth north of 20%. Buying a typical home in one of metro Atlanta's 25-most affluent ZIP codes comes with a monthly mortgage payment of at least $3,400 and calls for a household income of at least $139,000.
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