Georgia’s most famous coastal city has emerged as Exhibit A in showing how increased homebuilding can keep buyers satiated and price spikes in check, according to a new national market analysis. 

During the year ending in October, Savannah nearly quadrupled its number of housing permits (from 313 up to 1,092). That’s a 249 percent surge that ranked The Hostess City of the South at No. 1 among 193 top U.S. markets for the year, according to analysts with Kansas City-based Reliable Cash House Buyers, citing U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey and Realtor.com data. 

Only cities with 100 building permits or more issued in October 2024 were studied. The Las Vegas area finished a distant No. 2 (with 165 percent housing permit growth), per the study. 

Savannah’s housing “construction boom” also triggered one of the steepest drops in home prices (-6.24 percent) over the period studied, a cooling that analysts considered significant but not extreme. Prices around Knoxville, for example, dipped by roughly twice as much. 

Reliable Cash House Buyers; data: U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey/Realtor.com

Savannah’s “supply catch-up” score of 255.24, which was characterized as “dramatic,” also led the nation. Projects within a short distance of Savannah’s downtown and River Street—such as The Isling at Savannah Harbor and Upper East River, as two examples—have seen a surge of buyer interest during construction phases. 

Nonetheless, Savannah has emerged as “the poster child for how aggressive homebuilding can cool an overheated housing market,” reads an analysis summary. “The finding positions Savannah as a test case for a critical housing policy question: Can you actually build your way out of a price crisis? In Savannah’s case, the answer appears to be yes.”

Aerial over Savannah's famed River Street in 2023. Shutterstock

The Isling at Savannah Harbor's planned walkable layout across the water from downtown. Courtesy of Trilogy Investment Company

The permitting uptick in Savannah signals an influx of supply in the pipeline and that buyer competition is easing, said Jake Stoddard, owner of the Kansas City real estate company.

“Savannah is the perfect example of what happens when supply finally catches up with demand,” said Stoddard in a news release. “A 249 percent permit surge doesn’t happen by accident—it’s the market responding to years of undersupply.”

During the same time period, metro Atlanta’s housing permits climbed by 16 percent as home prices appreciated by just shy of 1 percent, according to the year-over-year analysis.  

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