Atlanta may have fallen in the middle of the spectrum in WalletHub’s new ranking of 2016’s best cities for real estate agents – the ATL placed 67 out of 150 – but there remain many positives in the area’s market that will aid agent business in 2016.

WalletHub’s study considered a number of factors, including: sales per agent; annual median wage for agents; unemployment rate; home turnover rate; days on market; and building permit activity. Then, it combined those factors into two metrics – “Job Opportunity & Competition” and “Real Estate Market Heat” – and ranked metro areas in each category, with the areas’ ultimate placing coming from a weighting of those rankings; for the jobs metric, Atlanta came in at No. 147, while for the market heat metric, it placed at a much better No. 12.

What’s in a Ranking?

Of course, any ranking of the nation’s housing markets is inherently subjective, and there are many positive trends right now in Atlanta’s housing market, including:

• Home sales in Metro Atlanta started the year out strong, rising 3.3 percent year-over-year, while median sales price jumped 9.2 percent.
• Spending on residential construction projects was up 15 percent in 2015.
• Georgia’s foreclosure inventory fell 21.8 percent last year, and closed out the year at just 0.6 percent of all mortgaged properties.
• Finally, for the fifth-straight year, Atlanta was the nation’s No. 1 moving destination.

So despite WalletHub’s rankings, there is much to be optimistic about in Atlanta’s housing market.

For a broader perspective on WalletHut’s study, here is how some of the nation’s largest metro areas ranked: