Atlanta native Akasha Lawrence dreams of owning a three-bedroom house in the city where she was born and raised, but finding one in her price range this year has been “a little difficult.”
The 29-year-old Midtown resident was one of many aspiring Black homebuyers who participated in Invest Atlanta’s Homeownership Month Open House Tour in May. Those who attended were introduced to the economic development group’s downpayment assistance program and other initiatives designed to help more locals attain a piece of the American dream.
Some checked out moderately priced homes for sale in neighborhoods along West Atlanta’s Beltline Trail.
Lawrence was one of several who toured a 1,300 square foot, three-bedroom bungalow on Allene Avenue in Adair Park whose current $375,000 listing price has risen 229% over the past decade, according to Zillow.
“My dream home costs more than I would like to pay,” Lawrence told Capital B Atlanta after her walkthrough. “I just haven’t found something that really speaks to me, like, ‘This is my home.’ It’s a big purchase, so I want to be sure.”
She’s far from alone.
The rate of Black homeownership in metro Atlanta has been on the rise this year when compared to last year, according to leaders from Invest Atlanta and two local trade associations for Black Realtors. But real estate industry insiders say native low-to-middle income Black Atlantans are still having a harder time than others navigating the financial hurdles that come with securing their first home purchase.
Last year, Atlanta was named the best city in the nation for Black people to buy a home. Since then, city home prices have declined due to an increase in housing inventory and lower demand, according to analysts. The average Atlanta home price declined more than $16,000 (-4.1%) year-over-year in July as of July 8, to just over $402,000, according to Zillow.
But experts say Black homebuyers are more hesitant than most to take advantage of what many view as a buyer’s market due to income disparities, lack of savings for a down payment, higher interest rates, and concerns about the overall economy.
Native Black Atlantans in particular have struggled not only with affordability, but also competition from Black and white homebuyers from other parts of the country.
While the average size of Atlanta homes has declined notably since 2020, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission, the size and price of Atlanta homes can be more appealing to Black transplants moving here from expensive coastal regions like Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey. Both home prices and median Black household incomes in those places tend to be higher than Atlanta’s, according to Marvetta Bozeman, president of the Empire Board of Realtists, a local Black Realtors trade group that advocates for more democracy in housing.
Bozeman said 99% of her clients are Black, but only about 5% of them are Atlanta natives.
“I don’t really have people that are actually true Grady Babies,” she told Capital B Atlanta during a recent phone interview, using the term for native Atlantans born at Grady Memorial Hospital.
“As [transplants] keep flocking here, [they]take it from some of the folks that’s been here.”
Systems engineer Lance Hyatt, 35, said he moved from Miami to Atlanta about seven years ago after watching a YouTube video about the city’s growing prosperity. He and his fiancée, Kajuana Pugh, 34, an internal auditor originally from Memphis, Tennessee, collectively earn about $225,000 annually.
They have spent the last year looking to buy a house in Atlanta to take advantage of all the diversity and amenities the city has to offer.
“We don’t want to be out in Woodstock and have to drive like 45 minutes to an hour just to do things that we do in the city,” Pugh said on May 31 after previewing a home in Sylvan Hills.
Realtor Cynthia Crawford, president of Metro South Atlanta Realtists, another trade organization for Black real estate professionals, estimates that the region’s Black homeownership rate has increased 2%, citing the latest available regional data from the National Association of Real Estate Brokers’ State of Black Housing In America report released in November.
But she cautions that the rate remains much lower than it was in the 1960s, calling the trend “scary.” Crawford believes high rent prices have motivated those who can afford a home to buy one.
“Their rent has gone up so much that if they’re paying that kind of rent, they just feel like they should just go ahead and buy, because then at least they’re building equity and they have some kind of control over what’s happening,” she said.
Advocates encourage Black aspiring homebuyers on the margins to take advantage of the many programs available to help them achieve their homeownership dreams. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has made battling wealth inequality one of his top priorities since taking office in 2022.
Invest Atlanta CEO Eloisa Klementich said helping underserved communities avoid displacement has always been a priority for the organization. Black people make up 84% of the 1,800 homeowners who have received downpayment assistance through Invest Atlanta since 2010, an estimated $33 million in downpayment assistance over 15 years.
“We want people to be empowered to just buy the best home that works for them wherever it should be in the city,” she said.
