Today, the New York Times is talking about what we’ve been discussing for months. It even quotes the Atlantic article I featured a few months back in my award-winning* “Slumming It in Your McMansion” post.

Namely, that gas prices are clearing out the ex-urbs and suburbs, and people are buying smaller homes and smaller cars closer to the city center. Atlanta even gets a special shout-out.

In Atlanta, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Minneapolis, homes beyond the urban core have been falling in value faster than those within, according to an analysis by Moody’s Economy.com.

The article goes on to interview lots of nervous people on the urban fringe that are considering the big move back into the big, bad city and cites this interesting figure…

More than three-fourths of prospective home buyers are now more inclined to live in an urban area because of fuel prices, according to a recent survey of 903 real estate agents with Coldwell Banker, the national brokerage firm.

Three-fourths?! Well then let me be the first to say “Come one, come all!” But you might need to sell that sectional sofa first. Us ITPs like our homes nice and cozy.

*Post didn’t actually win any awards. I just made that up for dramatic effect.

[Photo courtesy of the NY Times]