Anyone who’s been to Savannah lately, especially in those charming, moss-draped blocks near River Street, knows the historic coastal city is changing. Fast.
Buoyed by a booming jobs market, growing port-related industries, and record tourism (visitors spent an estimated $4.4 billion last year alone in Savannah), the Hostess City is on so much of a roll it’s caused growing pains—and gripes among locals. A new nationwide analysis shows the growth trajectory applies to Savannah’s residential market, too.
Across the first half of 2023, Savannah has bucked a national trend that’s seen new housing permits dip by 17.5 percent versus the same time period last year, according to researchers with Point2, an international real estate search portal and division of Yardi Systems. (Even booming metro Atlanta has seen permit activity slide backwards this year, per the report.)
Savanah’s total of 2,090 new housing permits in the first six months of 2023 pointed to what Point2 analysts described as a “resilient local economy.”
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Permits for units in new multifamily buildings across Savannah drove the spike, with a year-over-year climb of 63 percent.
The rate of increase for single-family home permits was tamer but still strong at 7.5 percent across the first six months of 2023, according to Point2 analysts.
Permits for boutique buildings with two to four units, however, saw a precipitous drop of 90 percent in Savannah, which researchers posited might be a reaction to population growth.
“[It] could be a sign that smaller multifamily residences are going out of style,” Point2 reps wrote in an email to Urbanize Atlanta. “Given the surge in permits for units in five-plus unit buildings, it seems that Savannah is leaning towards larger housing complexes.”
Courtesy of Point2
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Overall, just 90 of nearly 400 U.S. metros studied have logged building permit increases this year, per Point2’s findings.
Metro Atlanta, meanwhile, recorded a 6.5 percent drop in building permit activity across the first half of 2023, according to Point2. The same can be said for most—43 of 56—metros the company considers “large” (with populations higher than 1 million) around the U.S.
Across Georgia, the research showed building permit filings have dropped by 10.4 percent versus last year—a rate described as not drastic, as activity in 36 other states has slowed more.
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