Metro Atlanta Housing Market 'Unaffordable’: Report

ATLANTA, GA — If you're looking to buy a home in the metro Atlanta area, it could cost you a pretty penny. For some people, however, it could be downright unattainable.

That's because recent data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has identified the metro Atlanta housing market as "unaffordable."

The Atlanta Fed's Home Ownership Affordability Monitor Index measures the ability of a median-income household to absorb the estimated annual costs associated with owning a median-priced home.

A HOAM index below 100 indicates that the median-priced home is unaffordable to the median-income household given the current interest rate.

Here's how some counties in metro Atlanta scored:

The good news is that quite a few nearby counties scored above 100, earning them the "affordable" label.

According to the HOAM index, those counties include Cobb (102.4), Douglas (102.7), Forsyth (116.7), Clayton (108.6) and Fayette (109.4). To view the scores of other counties near metro Atlanta, click here.

According to a recent report by Re/Max, the median price of a home sold in February was $345,000 —3 percent higher than January's and 17.3 percent above a year ago.

Even with home prices increasing, the real estate company said homes didn't stay on the market long, spending an average of just 35 days last month.

"With such high demand and low inventory, houses are flying off the shelves right now – even at prices that have reached new highs," Nick Bailey, Re/Max President and CEO, said in a news release. "Buyers, feeling pinched by inflation, are snapping up new listings and racing to take advantage of near historically low rates before they go up."

According to Georgia Multiple Listing Service, which covers a 12-county area of metro Atlanta, home prices have skyrocketed in just the last 12 months. It found a 23.7 percent increase in prices compared to a year ago. The number of sales also increased by 11.8 percent.