Metro Atlanta Residential Construction Quarterly Review

A review of new residential construction permit data on record with HBW through Q2-2020

Based on HBW’s latest Building Activity Trend Report for New Residential Construction, the Metro Atlanta area appears to be experiencing a slow year when it come to new home construction.  Since 2019, there have been signs of a downward trend in residential construction in Atlanta, with a year-over-year decrease averaging about 3.5 percent.  With six months still remaining this year, this slope may change, but through Q2-2020 the Atlanta area has experienced a 4 percent year-over-year decrease in new residential construction, resulting in 10,475 new permits on record with HBW.

Out of the 24 counties that make up the Metro Atlanta area, Gwinnett County and Cherokee County carried higher concentrations of new home construction activity as they had 1,626 and 1,040 new residential construction permits on record through Q2-2020 respectively.  Other leading counties for new home construction (based on total housing starts) include Forsyth County (978 permits) and Cobb County (958 permits).

Despite the overall dip in new residential construction across the entire Metro Atlanta area, approximately 37 percent of counties are exhibiting year-over-year increases in new home construction ranging from 1 percent to 58 percent.  For example, both Gwinnett County and Cobb County had demonstrated year-over-year decreases in housing starts in 2019, and since the start of this year, things seem to be picking up; both counties have started strong with year-over-year increases in new home construction ranging from 7 percent to 17 percent.  Additionally, less populated areas including Hall County (597 permits) and Bartow County (304 permits) are already ahead of last year’s figures with year-over-year increases in new residential construction permits of 32 percent and 21 percent respectively.

When reviewing construction reports to identify the areas where higher value residential construction (construction values >$500k) is taking place, the counties of Fulton, Dekalb and Coweta continue to hold the bulk of higher value permits.  In fact, nearly 55 percent of all new higher value residential construction permits have originated from Fulton, Dekalb and Coweta, with Fulton County leading and having 100 housing starts with values in excess of $500k on record with HBW since the start of this year (thru Q2-2020).

Information utilized for the above listed figures for Metro Atlanta residential construction was directly derived from HBW construction data reports. To gain access to the HBW database and receive custom and detailed reports on the latest residential and commercial building activity in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma, please contact HBW for details.

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