LOTS OF LOTS!
Posted By: Allison VanderVeer
In: St Simons Island Real Estate
Date: Mon, Jul 24th 2017 12:50 pm
All of Coastal Georgia is experiencing tremendous building activity and nowhere is that more noticeable than on St. Simons Island. We’re seeing every scrap of buildable property in the south end of the island covered up with new bricks and sticks.
At mid-island – typically above Sea Island Road and below the Lawrence / Frederica Roads roundabout – residential building activity is unprecedented. If you read ‘The Brunswick News’ regularly you know the issues with inadequate water & sewer supply and understaffed planning and zoning people. It sometimes seems we’re chasing our tail as pent up demand from 6 years of the local recession still isn’t satiated.
A bottom line observation from my viewpoint is that we’re seeing the cost of building sites taking a brisk hike upward. While that is not news to you, it combines with rising labor and material costs to drive the cost of new housing faster than we may want.
I don’t see a bubble or a correction for a couple of years, but I do see some being priced out of the market soon if the upward spiral continues. You might want to take advantage of today’s opportunities rather than wait to buy. Many are doing just that and renting their new properties until they are ready to take occupancy. We see a lot of that activity and welcome the long-term rentals in our program.
Here are a few interesting stats on lot availability on SSI:
• There are 240 building sites currently for sale.
• Below Sea Island Road there are 83; just 7% are below $200,000 and 7% are above $1M.
• Above Sea Island Road there are 160 lots for sale; 2% are under $100,000 and 4% are over $1M.
Finding the good buys is not easy. Call us to help you with what we feel are the better buys in our market. Thanks!