In comparison to 2014, the Metro Atlanta area experienced a 14% increase in new residential construction activity during 2015.
Atlanta Skyline – Source: Wikipedia.org
With the start of the New Year comes the year-end review, and according to the HBW database, in 2015 Atlanta experienced significant growth in new residential construction permits in comparison to 2014. How much growth you may ask? Try 14% to be exact, which means that more than 19,300 new residential construction permits in the Metro Atlanta area were added to the HBW database in 2015.
To break it down even further, we looked at the top counties for growth, the counties with the most housing starts on file, as well as the area(s) where homes with a value over $500k thrived. The results of our review is as follows:
Growth
If you read the Atlanta review at the closing of Q3 (Third Quarter Highs in Atlanta & Florida), you will notice that a few counties continued to show the greatest amount of growth through the end of the year. Just as in the Q3 report, Bartow County led the Metro Atlanta area with an impressive 94% increase in housing starts in comparison to 2014. Jackson County ranked second for growth in new residential permits with a massive 66% increase. Just as in Q3, Walton County took the third spot for growth with a 62% increase in housing starts. Dekalb and Newton counties were not far behind as they experienced increases in starts of 44% and 42% respectively.
Top 5 Metro ATL Counties for Growth – 2015 vs. 2014
Total Permits
In Q3, we had reviewed the top counties for total number of new permits on file. Not surprisingly, four out of five of the counties held their top spots, closing 2015 with increases as high as 25% since the previous year. Gwinnett County led Q3 and closed 2015 on top with 3,187 new permits on file, a 12% increase in comparison to 2014. Forsyth County continued to hold steady in second, with 2,889 housing starts, an increase of 13% since the previous year. Continuing to hold the #3 spot, Fulton County exhibited significant growth of 25% since 2014, with 2,606 new housing starts. Cherokee (1,812 permits, +19%) and Henry (1,112 permits, +21%) counties rounded out the top 5 for the year in the #4 and #5 spots.
Metro Atlanta – 2015 Top 5 Counties for Total # of New Residential Construction Permits
Homes Valued Over $500,000
Construction of homes exceeding $500,000 in value was not widespread in the Metro Atlanta area. Although the area experienced a marked increase of 36% in residential construction over $500,000 since 2014, the bulk of the activity took place in just two counties. Out of the 854 housing starts in this bracket, nearly 450 occurred in Fulton County. Next in line was Dekalb County, the fourth highest for growth, where 119 new housing permits (>$500k) are on file for the year. Other counties where higher value residential activity took place include: Cherokee (55), Cobb (48), Coweta (44), and Gwinnett (40).
Information utilized for the graphs and above listed figures was directly derived from HBW construction data reports. To gain access to the HBW database and receive custom and detailed reports on the latest building activity in Florida and beyond, please contact HBW for details.