A new study reveals that Atlanta stands as the best city for Black homebuyers. According to a report by Mortgage Research Center, the metro Atlanta area is the most inclusive in America.  The study reached conclusions based on four metrics that include the number of successful home purchases; the total number of Black homebuyer mortgage applicants; approval rates; and the spread between Black and white mortgage approval rates. Over 390 metro areas were included in the study. The study revealed that 39,000 Black homebuyers and close to 50,000 approved applicants for mortgages over the years 2022 and 2023. Atlanta produced the most homebuyers than any other city.  Washington, D.C., Dallas, Houston, and Chicago rounded out the top five in the study.  Atlanta’s rank as the top city for Black homebuyers remains impressive due to the hurdles often presented in the metro area. The city continues to suffer from severe income inequality and corporations have purchased thousands of homes, which led to an increase in home prices.  A study by Georgia Tech revealed that Atlanta residents lost $1.25 billion in home equity overall, with Black residents losing $681 million. Neighborhoods such as Kingswood, Grant Park, and Adair Park/Pittsburgh suffered the most, losing $35M to $44M over a 10-year span.  “Atlanta lost $1.25B in financial equity between 2011 and 2021 with predominantly African American neighborhoods bearing more than half of the total loss. The most affected neighborhood suffered a loss proportional to nearly 4% of their total household income,” the study states.  The study continues to point out how Wall Street-backed corporations have added to the racial disparities in home ownership. Three companies (Invitation Homes, Pretium Partners and Amherst Holdings) own 19,000 homes in Atlanta. The corporate purchases have had a ripple effect.  “Wall street-backed investors’ growing control of single–family rental (SFR) homes only widens existing racial gaps in homeownership and wealth. Forinstance, recent research investigating metro Atlanta shows that large corporate investors intensively targeted majority-Black neighborhoods with strong rental market potential shrinking Black families’ homeownership rates. Similar findings are also observed in other metro areas. Furthermore, evidence illustrates that, compared with publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), private equity firms tend to concentrate their SFR holdings in relatively lower-opportunity neighborhoods with larger shares of Black residents nationwide,” the study states.    Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has made affordable housing a key issue to confront during his tenure.    “I set a goal for my administration to build or preserve 20,000 affordable housing units in eight years,” Dickens said. “And we’ve hit the ground running. I am happy to announce that in the first two years we have collectively delivered over 3000 units with nearly 5000 more in the pipeline!”     The post Report: Atlanta Stands As Best City For Black Homebuyers In America appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.