Lake Lanier, file photo.
By Jessica Knight
GAINESVILLE, Ga. | The Norton Agency recently presented its 38th Native Intelligence Forecast, an annual report providing an in-depth analysis of the Northeast Georgia real estate market and broader economic trends.
Knight
The event featured key insights from Frank Norton, Jr., chairman and chief strategist, and Tommy Howard, CEO of The Norton Agency. They were later joined by Emilie Norton Cisco, vice president of asset management, and Will Cobb, senior vice president and partner for Norton Commercial, who added additional insights on the rental and commercial aspects of the real estate market.
Norton and Howard spoke about the Top Game Changers in the Northeast Georgia real estate market including:
Lake Lanier: The only chart Norton showed was about lakefront home sales on Lanier. Norton has tracked Lanier’s sales over 30 years and has identified a significant milestone: in 2024, as 48 percent of homes sold on Lanier with private docks were over $1 million.
Generating Wealth: Howard discussed the continued concern for the next generation’s opportunities to create wealth through homeownership. Rising costs of goods, homes, rent, and interest rates create a more difficult environment for first time home buyers, and has caused a continued decrease in homeownership (currently 65.6 percent down from the peak of 69.2 percent in April of 2004). He asked the question: “What happens if Americans never start the process of creating wealth through real estate?”
Norton
Building on scraps: “The easy land is gone”, says Norton. Builders and developers are forced to be more creative in their designs and plans, working around steep grades and difficult terrain. “Basements are the unicorns in today’s new house market.”
Where has all the flat land gone? “Well, we flooded it all. It’s under Lake Lanier.”
Multi-Generational living: More homes today are being built with multiple generations in mind. The increased additions of ADUs (“additional dwelling unit” or commonly known as the “in-law suite”) can increase a home’s price up to 35 percent, but allow a better living situation to those finding multi-generational living to be financially advantageous. Expect 100,000 ADU’s to be built in homes in 2025.
Moratoriums: Howard discussed the positives and negatives of moratoriums, a tactic used by many Northeast Georgia communities at one point or another to manage the ever-increasing amount of growth in our region, calling them a “crutch” for “community leadersPhil;p Beard to kick the proverbial can down the road and block newcomers from entering the community.”
Affordability: North Georgia remains a more affordable region than many others; however, the gap between median income ($94,000) and median home prices ($449,000) continues to widen. We are currently sitting at a 4.8 ratio – far exceeding the traditional 2.5x benchmark for affordability that we have known in the past.
Norton ended the presentation with a strong reminder from himself and his team: “There is still so much good and so much opportunity, America is the last BEST place to invest your money.”
- The full report, including a PDF of the publication and a video of the presentation, is available at this link.
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