Residential Construction on the Rise in Atlanta (Q1-2021)

A brief overview of the increase in new home construction exhibited in the Metro Atlanta area since the start of 2021

Based on the latest HBW quarterly “Building Activity Trend Report” for new residential construction in the Metro Atlanta area, new home construction is on the rise as of Q1-2021.  After a pattern of slow but steady annual decline since 2018, it appears that the Metro Atlanta area may be climbing out of the residential construction market slump with a strong start this year in the form of a 37 percent year-over-year increase in new permits (Q1-2021).

From January through March of this year, there have been 8,000 housing starts added to the HBW database for Metro Atlanta, and nearly 35 percent of all new home construction activity took place in three out of the twenty-four counties reviewed.  Those counties are as follows:

Gwinnett County – Last quarter, Gwinnett County carried the highest concentration of new home construction activity, having 1,325 new permits on record with HBW for the three-month period; this reflects a 46 percent increase in residential construction in comparison to the same time last year.

Fulton County – Fulton County ranked #2 for new home construction during the first quarter of this year as there were 769 housing starts on record with HBW for the three-month period.  After two consecutive years of annual declines in the market ranging from -10% to -26%, there appears to be potential for the Fulton County area to come out ahead this year as new home construction is already 78 percent ahead of figures from the same time last year.

Forsyth County – In Forsyth County, there were nearly 640 housing starts added to the HBW database in Q1-2021, reflecting a 45 percent increase in new home construction in comparison to the same time last year.

As far as higher value residential construction (>$500k) is concerned, there have been approximately 350 new residential construction projects throughout the Metro Atlanta area added to the HBW database in Q1-2021.  Nearly half of all higher value permits in the first quarter of this year have originated from Fulton County and Dekalb County where there have been 125 permits and 44 new permits added to the HBW database respectively.


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.

Comments are closed.