ATLANTA—The multifamily market has been historically strong for several years now. Developers have responded by breaking ground on new product—and lots of it.

Indeed, developers will add 9,750 units this year, according to the latest multifamily report from Marcus & Millichap. That's up modestly from last year. New rentals will focus on high-rent areas in the Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead submarkets, where average rents per unit can top $1,400.

With this in mind, should we have concerns about multifamily overbuilding in Atlanta? We asked Josh Goldfarb, co-founder and co-managing partner of Multi Housing Advisors, an Atlanta-based brokerage firm that focuses exclusively on apartment investment sales, for his thoughts.

Goldfarb told us, at this point he doesn't have any concerns about multifamily overbuilding in Atlanta. Then he told us why: As developers are confronting the higher land costs associated with building in the booming intown Atlanta markets, they are beginning to build in suburban locations that have been historically underserved by new product.

“The high rents in the intown areas have put upward pressure on suburban rents,” Goldfarb says. “The increased rents, combined with the relatively low land costs in the more outlying areas, have begun to make new developments in suburban locations more feasible, despite high construction costs. So, yes: construction is picking up in metro Atlanta, but a good deal of it will take place in outlying and suburban areas that have not seen a lot of deliveries.”