John Bryant on Atlanta’s hot housing market

Today’s HousingWire Daily features the tenth episode of Honest Conversations, a miniseries on minority homeownership hosted by HousingWire Digital Media Manager Alcynna Lloyd. In this episode, Lloyd interviews John Bryant, the founder, chairman and CEO of Operation Hope, who is also the founder of The Promise Homes Company, which is one of the largest minority-controlled owners of single-family residential rental property in the United States. In this episode, Bryant discusses why Atlanta’s housing market has become a hotbed for minority entrepreneurs and how that is impacting financial education and homeownership in the market.

Here is a small preview of the interview, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

Alcynna Lloyd: John, why has Atlanta been so great for the economic pursuits of Black Americans and how has that impacted financial education and homeownership? 

John Hope: Well, the original Atlanta miracle was created, really, in large part due to former Mayor Maynard Jackson, who would not allow the city to have a contract with anyone unless they participated in contracts with everyone. So, mainstream had to partner with minority, which created a foundation of Black wealth in this city. Additionally, former Ambassador Andrew Young followed this with what he called “public purpose, capitalism,”  and that then, in part transformed Atlanta into the international city of the South. In terms of Atlanta’s housing market, this city has now become a place where it is cheaper to own a home than it is to rent. When I first got here, you could buy a home for $50,000. Today, you can buy a decent home for $100,000 to $150,000, and with record low interest rates and a decent credit score, you may actually pay less for a mortgage and property taxes, than you would if you rented. So, I think a lot of folks got the memo in financial literacy as people asked, “why do I want to rent somewhere that really doesn’t want me or my money?” Instead, people are choosing to buy in an inclusive place that’s going to go up in value and creating more generational wealth. So, I think a lot of folks here understand the Atlanta housing market is the new Manhattan. It’s the new Los Angeles. It’s the new Miami.

HousingWire Daily examines the most compelling articles reported across HW Media. Each afternoon, we provide our listeners with a deeper look into the stories coming across our newsroom that are helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd and Victoria Wickham.