Atlanta; Most abandoned citeis> Why? (Dallas, Clayton: foreclosures, rental market, condos)

[Ron.]

I am sure there has been talk about this already but why did ATL make this list?

What's going on?





America's Top 15 Emptiest Cities - ABC News


For the record, Chicago made the list also......

[Cityboy24]

I don't know how to answer this without coming off as an ignorant bastard.

Unfortunately, lots of people live off welfare here. And plenty of them got loans to buy houses well above their price range thanks to loans during AIG's heyday.

Atlanta is VERY ghetto in areas, but on the plus many of the abandoned projects areas are getting cleaned up like East Atlanta near Little Five Points; making a big turn-around.

[floyd242]

Too much development during the boom and now nobody can get a loan. There are so man failing condo projects etc.

Just my guess.

[waronxmas]

Y'all do realize that list is for the entire 28 county Metro Atlanta CSA right?

The city of Atlanta is not abandoned in any sense. In fact 125,000 people have moved into the City of Atlanta in the last 8 years.

[Mishap]

I'd argue the numbers are suspect given they don't tell you weighting and whether or homes or rental units are worse for the area. Also it bundles everything from Clayton County to Walton County which while huge doesn't necessarily indicate if Atlanta itself is doing ok.

It seems odd that Miami which is the poster child for condo overbuilding and some 18,900 condo units in inventory for Dade County would only be #11 and only have 3.6% available housing.

No one's arguing Atlanta isn't in bad shape with a glut of condos especially in the vast swaths of land to the east and west of the city core. I just would take this w/ a grain of salt given it doesn't explicitly account for differences in home ownership/renting (South has higher ownership rates b/c of cheaper homes) and the size of the rental market.

Also how come Orlando has a nearly 70% higher home vacancy rate than Atlanta and still fall lower on the list? The south has averaged above 12% rental vacancy since the end of 2003. If ATL is at 16% right now, how much is that off the vacancy during the housing boom?

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by Mishap

I'd argue the numbers are suspect given they don't tell you weighting and whether or homes or rental units are worse for the area. Also it bundles everything from Clayton County to Walton County which while huge doesn't necessarily indicate if Atlanta itself is doing ok.

It seems odd that Miami which is the poster child for condo overbuilding and some 18,900 condo units in inventory for Dade County would only be #11 and only have 3.6% available housing.

No one's arguing Atlanta isn't in bad shape with a glut of condos especially in the vast swaths of land to the east and west of the city core. I just would take this w/ a grain of salt given it doesn't explicitly account for differences in home ownership/renting (South has higher ownership rates b/c of cheaper homes) and the size of the rental market.

Also how come Orlando has a nearly 70% higher home vacancy rate than Atlanta and still fall lower on the list? The south has averaged above 12% vacancy since the end of 2003. If ATL is at 16%, how much is that off the norm from

Not to mentioned when they use a red herring like "abandoned". I don't think there is anyone who would say that Atlanta is "abandoned". You'd have a better case with Detroit or Dayton with that type of word.

[Mishap]

I pulled together a quick chart of the Case Shiller Index for a few cities home values and if you can see ATL is near Charlotte and Dallas while Detroit runs along the bottom. Miami and LA went crazy during the boom and show clear signs of a huge bubble. Vegas is the 3rd line down and you can understand why they're a mess as well.

Atlanta is certainly feeling the overbuilding now but it never experienced the run up that those cities experienced and I'd argue that cities w/ the biggest bubble and those hit by massive unemployment would be the emptiest as a result of foreclosures and overbuilding.

[afonega1]

Well in Atlanta's case,it is still a desirable place due to the business that have big presences here.The overbuilding is actually a good thing in my opinion.(at least with the city core)Prices especially in the city of Atlanta for renting and buying are significantly down and are still dropping.It will make the city more of a great place for investing and more affordable to live.The downside is that ,many of these vacant properties will at least in the immediate futire will cause the quality of life to go down.Empty house+unavailability of jobs=criminality on all levels.Not to mention for owners like myself,property values will continue to plummet.

This list is only negative if its a city like Detroit where people have been moving out of well before the recession,in which case,this is nothing new for them unforturnately.

[RZaakir]

Originally Posted by Cityboy24

I don't know how to answer this without coming off as an ignorant bastard.

Unfortunately, lots of people live off welfare here. And plenty of them got loans to buy houses well above their price range thanks to loans during AIG's heyday.

Atlanta is VERY ghetto in areas, but on the plus many of the abandoned projects areas are getting cleaned up like East Atlanta near Little Five Points; making a big turn-around.

Boy did your first sentence hit the nail on the head. Let's blame it all on the people in the "ghetto" and let the non-welfare recipient speculators who bought up so much of the property - commercial and residential - there and elsewhere completely off the hook.

[cityrover]

crime taxes governance

there is some cleanup taking place (you want to see a cleaned up city, try charlotte. holy moly is that nice!) but there is a lot of uncertainty about politics and taxes. ive long thought about getting a condo downtown but there is too much nonsense with water bills and ever fluctuating taxes and services.