Atlanta's typical asking rent hit $1,942 in September, up 3.2% in a year, while the typical home value fell 1.9%. Builders keep adding apartments.
Renting in Atlanta keeps getting more expensive, even as the value of the typical home slips.
The typical asking rent in the city was $1,942 a month in September 2026, according to the Zillow Observed Rent Index. That is up $61, or 3.2%, from $1,881 in September 2025.
Over the same 12 months, the typical Atlanta home value fell 1.9%, from $387,609 to $380,331, by Zillow’s home value index. It dropped in every month of that year.
What it means for you
- Renting: the typical asking rent is $61 a month higher than a year ago, or $732 a year. Compare a renewal offer with asking rents for similar units nearby.
- Thinking of buying: typical values are a little lower than a year ago, and lowest in the south and west of the city. Our home prices page breaks them down by ZIP code.
- Owning: a lower market value does not change this year’s tax bill. See our property taxes page for the Fulton County appeal window and the state’s homestead credit.
Rents bottomed out last winter
Asking rents in Atlanta were flat to slightly down through the end of 2025. The index reached its low point of $1,871 in December 2025. It has risen every month since.
The biggest monthly gains came this spring and summer. The index went from $1,900 in May to $1,930 in July, then $1,937 in August and $1,942 in September.
How Atlanta compares with its neighbors
Rents rose in most nearby cities too, but not all of them. Zillow’s September figures, with the change from a year earlier:
| City | Typical asking rent, September 2026 | Change in a year |
|---|---|---|
| Hapeville, about seven miles south | $1,958 | +2.7% |
| Atlanta | $1,942 | +3.2% |
| Brookhaven, about eight miles northeast | $1,843 | +2.3% |
| Vinings, about seven miles northwest | $1,789 | -0.6% |
| Decatur, about seven miles east | $1,755 | +1.7% |
| East Point, about seven miles southwest | $1,516 | +4.2% |
| College Park, about nine miles south | $1,431 | -4.1% |
Source: Zillow Research, Zillow Observed Rent Index by city. Zillow’s city areas follow its own boundaries and mailing addresses, so a figure can take in homes just outside the city line.
East Point posted the biggest rise of the group. College Park was the only one where asking rents fell by more than 1%.
Builders keep adding apartments
The rent rise comes during a building boom that is almost all apartments.
The city issued permits for 5,342 new housing units from January through September 2026, according to the Census Bureau’s Building Permits Survey. That is up from 4,102 in the same nine months of 2025, as first reported.
Of this year’s units:
- 4,781 are in buildings with five or more units
- 342 are single-family homes
- 125 are in three- and four-unit buildings
- 94 are in two-unit buildings
September alone brought permits for 784 units in 106 buildings, with a construction value of $124,460,176. Of those, 741 were in buildings with five or more units. In September 2025 the city permitted 438 units.
A permit means a project is authorized. It does not mean construction has started.
How to read these figures
- Zillow Observed Rent Index: a smoothed, seasonally adjusted estimate of asking rents for homes and apartments in the middle of the market. It reflects listings, not what current tenants pay. Zillow revises past months.
- Zillow Home Value Index: a modeled value for homes in the middle third of the market, not a sale price.
- Building permits: reported to the Census Bureau by the city’s permit office. The bureau revises them in its annual file.
For more on the city’s housing market, see our home prices page and the weekly real estate transfers.
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