Most new homes are high income housing
Even if companies are building houses in Gilmer County, home prices aren’t going down.
That’s because of economic demand, an increased rental market, Planning and Zoning Director Jim Smith said.
“Right now, we have teachers or first responders, policemen and firemen, and other professions as well, that are working here, but they can’t find housing,” he said.
This need continues despite that fact that new houses have been built by the hundreds, Smith said.
In 2022, Planning and Zoning issued 425 residential permits. In 2023, it issued 375. And in 2024, it issued 368.
As of August this year, Planning and Zoning has issued 233 permits.
Figures from real estate website Zillow show the average house in Gilmer County costs $424,128.
Just eight years ago, the average house in Gilmer cost $187,321.
These figures suggest that many of the people moving into Gilmer are wealthy enough to afford expensive housing.
“There is a desperate need for affordable housing,” Smith said.
The county’s population is also growing rapidly, according to estimates from the county’s Joint Comprehensive Development Plan.
Increased demand for houses in the county has resulted in increased prices, Smith said.
Complicating the situation further, some of the new houses developers build are vacation rentals, Smith said.
Therefore, the number of new houses where Gilmer residents can live is lower than it appears to be on paper.
Currently, Planning and Zoning has seven subdivisions or sections of subdivisions under construction in Gilmer, Smith said. Two are under review.
However, there is almost nothing that Planning and Zoning can do to change the way people build housing, Smith said.
If there’s more money in building high-income housing, that’s what developers will build, he said.
“These kinds of things are market-driven,” Smith said.