Metro home prices up 5.5 percent

Atlanta has a mismatch of supply and demand, according to local experts and figures.

Metro Atlanta home prices rose less than 1 percent in May from the month before, but they are up 5.5 percent over the past year, according to a much-watched national survey.

Both figures put the region roughly in the middle of the pack of 20 metro areas in the latest S&P/Case-Shiller report on resale home prices.

Seattle had the biggest annual rise at 13.3 percent.

In metro Atlanta, prices have been rising almost exactly at the national average of 5.6 percent for the past year. However, Atlanta has slightly outpaced the 4.9 percent increase by the top 10 metros.

The steady increases are making homes less affordable, in Atlanta and elsewhere, said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones, which calculates the survey.

”Home prices continue to climb and outpace both inflation and wages,” he said.

But while he has speculated about a housing “bubble” in the past, Blitzer said he sees no imminent danger of that. “Housing is not repeating the bubble period of 2000 through 2006,” he said.

Metro Atlanta has a mismatch of supply and demand, according to local experts and figures.

But while some analysts warn of market imbalances, the dangers are a lot different than they were a dozen years ago. For one thing, the pace of home sales is muted.

And inventory — that is, the number of homes for sale — keeps shrinking.

Svenja Gudell, chief economist for Zillow, said roughly the same number of homes are for sale as in 1994, even though the U.S. population has grown by 63 million.

“On top of this simple demographic truth, a handful of economic tailwinds are also boosting demand ... employers are adding jobs, wages are growing and rock-bottom mortgage interest rates are keeping homes relatively affordable,” she said. “It all adds up to a one-two punch for beleaguered buyers.”

The imbalance could last for years, she said. “For the time being, expect this strong sellers’ market to continue.”