Despite moratoriums on annexation

and multi-family housing and continued talk that the city is at the brink

of "build-out," Peachtree City remained the new-home leader

in Fayette County through October of this year.

The pace of new home construction

throughout Fayette has slowed only slightly in recent years, and in fact

has held near steady since 2000 despite the onset of the War on Terrorism

and a difficult recession.

Peachtree City had issued 240

permits for single-family residential construction through the end of

October, according to detailed information made available on the Census

bureau Web site. During the same period, 231 permits were authorized in

the unincorporated sections of Fayette County. Tyrone, meanwhile, continued

to grow at a faster clip than Fayetteville, permitting 144 new homes during

the first 10 months of 2003, while the county seat had issued 131.

November's figures are

unavailable and two weeks remain in December, but based on permit history

so far this year and recent annual trends, Fayette County could end the

year with right at 900 new home starts, a slight decline but otherwise

nearly dead-on the total for each of the last three years.

In 2000, the county along with

Fayette's three cities issued 935 single-family permits, Census records

show. In 2001, the number dropped only slightly, to 916 countywide. Remarkably,

915 single-family permits were issued in 2002.

No multi-family permits have

been processed in 2003, but three were issued for duplexes in 2002 and

11 were allowed in 2001, adding 85 apartment units to the county's

housing mix.

Not surprisingly, the average

cost of new home construction in Fayette, estimated as the expense paid

out by the builder, and not necessarily the sales price, has risen steadily

since 2000, when it was $171,924 on average countywide.

This year, the most expensive

homes are going up in unincorporated Fayette, with an average cost to

the builder of $236,796.

When the cost of all 746 new

home permits issued so far in 2003 is averaged, it comes out to $193,874,

the second-highest median price in Metro Atlanta, after DeKalb County.

Average construction cost of

new homes in DeKalb is $199,680, according to the Census. However, in

sheer numbers, DeKalb had well over three times the number of new home

starts than Fayette, with 3,353 permits issued year-to-date.

Though not nearly as dramatic,

the rate of new home construction in Coweta County is nearly twice that

of Fayette.

Through October, 705 single-family

permits had been issued in unincorporated Coweta this year, while Newnan

alone had registered a whopping 584. Adding in Senoia's 76 housing

starts brings Coweta's total to 1,365.

Activity continues to be brisk

among South Fulton communities as well, reflected in the 189 housing starts

in Fairburn, 308 issued year-to-date in Union City and 129 permits in

Palmetto.

In South Metro, however, no

county comes close to matching the explosive growth that continues to

challenge Henry County. Through October, Henry had registered 2,809 single-family

permits and 244 units of multi-family housing just in unincorporated areas.

Henry's county seat of McDonough, meanwhile, had already seen 461

housing starts through October, in addition to 37 permits for apartment

projects that will add another 450 units.

But as it has for decades,

Gwinnett leads the state in sheer volume of new home construction again

this year, adding 696 homes in October alone. Through the first 10 months

of this year, Gwinnett had authorized 6,542 new homes just in its unincorporated

sections.

According to the Census, 66,561

new homes were built metro-wide in 2002, while 55,322 had been permitted

as of October this year.

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