A new Georgia Public Policy Foundation report challenges one of the most common narratives in the housing debate—that large institutional investors are driving families out of the market by buying up homes.
The data tell a more complex story, as we outline in our new report, “Institutional Investors and Housing Affordability in Metro Atlanta.”
Institutional ownership is concentrated in metro Atlanta, but these investors aren’t the root cause of Georgia’s housing affordability problems. The real culprits are restrictive regulations that limit home-building and prevent qualified families from buying homes. Here are the facts:
- Institutional investors own roughly 25–30% of single-family rentals, but that represents only a small share of Georgia’s total housing stock.
- Investor activity followed existing shortages, rather than creating them.
- Zoning restrictions, minimum lot sizes and construction delays are major drivers of high prices.
- Tightened federal mortgage standards have excluded millions of potential buyers, pushing more families into rentals.
- Policies limiting investors could backfire by reducing rental supply and worsening affordability.
Georgia’s challenge isn’t that too many investors are buying homes—it’s that too few homes are being built. Learn more about these issues in this week’s commentary.
Have a great weekend,
– Kyle Wingfield
Friday’s Freshest 🗞️
Every Halloween, we brace ourselves for the things that go bump in the night. Ghosts, goblins, vampires; the usual suspects. But as it turns out, the most frightening forces in Georgia aren’t hiding under beds or behind masks.
Despite the federal public health emergency ending over two years ago, ‘temporary’ Affordable Care Act subsidies that removed the income cap have remained in place. They have become the source of political theater in Washington, even though the expiring subsidies are not the driving force behind rising premiums.
Here is a simple proposition: If a Georgia public school has an open seat, any Georgia student should be able to take it. This idea isn’t fringe or partisan and shouldn’t require a superintendent’s blessing.
Atlanta is in the middle of consolidating and reorganizing schools, with tens of thousands of open seats across the district. Still, consolidation is rarely easy, even when it’s the practical or financially sound thing to do.
Georgia’s doctor shortage is large, and growing larger. Facing that fact is crucial if policymakers are to address the problem. So is rejecting the pervasive inclination to continue building our physician workforce “the way we’ve always done it.”
Peach Picks 🍑
Two Democrats defeated Republican incumbents in elections to the Georgia Public Service Commission on Tuesday, delivering the largest statewide margins of victory by Democrats in more than 20 years. Wins by Democrats Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson over Republicans Fitz Johnson and Tim Echols are the first time Democrats have won statewide elections to a state-level office in Georgia since 2006.
The one in eight Georgians who rely on the government for food may have to wait for weeks to get their spending allotment on the cards they use to buy groceries. In Georgia, deposits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, normally start arriving on the fifth of each month, rolling out on odd dates to recipients through the 23rd.
Gov. Brian Kemp provided an update on the impacts to Georgia from the ongoing federal government shutdown. “My office is in contact with food banks, nonprofit organizations, and community partners across the state,” the Governor said.
Three Georgia counties said “no” to a new five-year, 1-cent sales tax for property tax relief. The sales tax was approved by the other 35 counties, some by wide margins.
Millie Bobby Brown shared why she decided to stay in Georgia after Stranger Things ended. Brown, 21, originally found a home in the Peach State when she landed her iconic role as Eleven on the hit Netflix series Stranger Things, primarily filmed in Atlanta, when she was just 10 years old.
Quotes Of Note 🌟
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” – Margaret Thatcher
“When one with honeyed words but evil mind
Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.”- Euripides
“Happiness isn’t found in some finite checklist of goals that we can diligently complete and then coast. It’s how we live our lives in the process.” – Arthur C. Brooks
One More Fact 💡
As you know, “off year” elections were held in Georgia on Tuesday, with some races receiving more attention than others. On the ballot in many cities were mayoral races, and one result was particularly inspiring to the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.
Benita Cotton-Orr, a longtime employee of the Foundation, was elected mayor of Sky Valley, a town of about 500 in northern Rabun County. Benita played many roles and wore many hats at the Foundation, leading on key issues for all Georgians with grace and dignity.
“In my native land, I wasn’t even allowed to vote. Because of the color of my skin: I was classified ‘Cape Coloured.’ So I watched from the sidelines. Today I have reinforced to my two wonderful sons why I left my South Africa: to make a home in a land where they…and I…could be anything we strive to be. This is America,” Benita said on Tuesday night.
In many ways, the decisions made at the local level impact us more than those from Atlanta or Washington. We encourage everyone to tune in and be engaged.
Benita, from all of us at the Foundation, we congratulate you on your new title, Madame Mayor.