It'll take Georgians 9.4 years to save up for a 10% down payment on the typical home, Zillow data shows.

• That would require saving 5% of the median household income every month. Homebuyers would need to save 10% of the median household income to generate a 20% down payment in the same amount of time.

Why it matters: Affordability could be a "major driver of cross-country moves," Zillow says, as buyers seek a lifestyle within their means.

By the numbers: In the metro Atlanta area, the length of time drops just slightly to 9.2 years.

• The U.S. average is 8.9 years, with Iowa the lowest state at 5.2 years and Hawaii the highest at 18.4.

Between the lines: The share of first-time buyers in the U.S. has shrunk to a record low as inventory and affordability issues persist, according to the National Association of Realtors.

• First-timers are also waiting longer to buy. The median first-time buyer age jumped from 33 to 36 from 2021 to 2022, the latest data shows.

Of note: A record share of Americans believes it's a bad time to buy a house.

The big picture: Saving enough for a down payment is the biggest barrier to entry, says Brandi Snowden, a director at the National Association of Realtors.

• Many would-be-buyers are saddled with debt, including student loans, car loans and credit card debt.
• Homebuyers aren't putting as much money down as they were at the height of the housing frenzy, Axios' Emily Peck reports.

The intrigue: 37.6% of metro Atlanta home sales were made in cash in April — a drop of nearly 8 percentage points from the same time the previous year, new Redfin data shows.

• Nationwide, the share of U.S. cash buyers reached a nine-year high.

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👋🏽 Kristal here. Every houseplant enthusiast has at one point fallen for the calathea scam. Whenever I'm at a plant shop and see someone pick up a calathea, I get this urge to run over, put the plant back on the shelf and tell the person that they won't win that battle.

• But we all gotta learn the hard way, right?

These magnificent beauties — collectively referred to as prayer plants because their leaves open in the mornings and close in the evenings — lured me in with their eye-catching designs, but have been the source of so much frustration.

Here's why: These cranky babies enjoy moist soil but are sensitive to overwatering.

• They don't need much light, but their leaves can burn if they get too much.
• Calatheas hate the minerals in your tap water, so you gotta buy distilled water.
• They need more humidity than what's in the average home.
• They're prone to spider mites, a brutal lesson I learned last year when dozens of them in my office were afflicted.

State of play: I currently have four calatheas and six of their cousins: four marantas, a ctenanthe setosa "grey star" and a stromanthe triostar. After last year's battle with pests and my third calathea ornata losing nearly all of its leaves, I'm calling it quits on these plants.

• I’ll maintain the ones I have, but if they can't survive in my apartment’s conditions, then that’s on them.

Yes, but: If you're determined, here's a pretty good overview of caring for a calathea.

📬 Tell us: Reply with your hot takes on calatheas — or tell us what house plant questions you want to be answered.

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Thousands of racers pounded the pavement and wheeled through Buckhead and Midtown streets yesterday in the 54th annual Atlanta-Journal Constitution Peachtree Road Race.

Details: The winners in the men’s and women’s divisions — Charles Langat, 27, of Kenya and Ethiopia’s Fotyen Tesfay, 25 — were running their first Peachtree.

• Langat’s victory was nearly a photo finish, with the top four finishers crossing the finish line within a second of one another.

Daniel Romanchuk and Susannah Scaroni won their races in the men’s and women’s wheelchair division, respectively.

• It was the sixth consecutive win for Romanchuk, 24, who is tied for division trophies with Craig Blanchette.

Of note: The 10K drew participants from Kirkwood to Kenya. They included Betty Lindberg, running her 34th Peachtree at age 98, and 92-year-old Bill Thorn, the only person to have run in every Peachtree since the event began in 1970.

• Other VIPs included Mayor Andre Dickens, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Atlanta) and former Atlanta Hawks player Kyle Korver.

Intrigue: Peachtree Road Race officials shut down the course — and stopped keeping runners’ official times — roughly 30 minutes early over lightning and storm concerns. The decision affected roughly 500 runners, officials said.

GDOT says metro Atlanta had 171 wrong-way crashes from 2013 through 2022. (AJC)

Chick-fil-A leaders say a proposed standalone location in Buckhead’s commercial center won’t include a drive-through. (Urbanize)

City Hall is creating what’s essentially a development corporation to build affordable housing. (Atlanta Civic Circle)

High E. coli levels forced the closure of 11 miles of the Chattahoochee River, throwing a wrench into tubers’ and outfitters’ July 4 plans. (WSB)