Norton, the president of Norton Real Estate in Gainesville, who tracks these things, addressed the monthly meeting of the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
He said, for instance, Hall is being eclipsed by Forsyth in the real estate market because of higher prices for land and homes in Forsyth County. "Ten years ago," he said, "we were the market leader in home sales"Ten years ago, we were the market leader in home sales (but Forsyth has now moved ahead)."
Frank Norton, Jr.
." But, Norton added, Forsyth has now moved ahead, with $2.7 billion in real estate transactions, compared to $1.2 billion in Hall.
Last year, he said, Hall County issued 1,657 permits for new, single-family homes; Forsyth issued 2,896. Between 2000 and 2004, the number of new home permits in Hall totaled 8,143; in Forsyth, it was 14,164.
Norton also said in 2003 he began to notice a population shift in Hall County toward the east into Jackson and Barrow counties as the "affordable" housing market moved in that direction.
But, it's not all about real estate, Norton warned the gathering of Gainesville and Hall County business, government, education and civic leaders.
It's affecting retail, as well.
He said eleven percent of shoppers last Christmas at the Mall of Georgia in Buford were from Hall County. "That," he said, "is money that is not being spent here." And, he added, another survey showed 16 percent of shoppers at North Georgia Premium Outlets in Dawsonville are from Hall County - the largest percentage of any one county.
Norton said "the Wal-Marts" and other big box stores that continue to spring up in counties around Hall continue to siphon shoppers from Gainesville - because its a shorter drive to the new stores for some Hall countians than it is to drive to similar outlets in Gainesville.
Norton said a number of "next generation cities" are developing in the area - none of them in Hall County. He cited as examples Johns Creek in Forsyth County, Banks Crossing in Commerce and the area around Chateau Elan near Braselton. A lot of retail outlets are locating in and near those areas.
He praised the Greater Hall Chamber for a plan of action to bring some of the money leaving Gainesville for some of these outlying retail outlets back into Hall County.
Norton projects a population in Hall County by 2020 of 256,000 at the current rate of growth; Forsyth County, he said, will, by then, have pushed way ahead of Hall and is expected to have a population of about 464,000.
He said 70 of all housing and population growth in Hall County is south of Chicopee Woods and less than 30 percent of that area is "built out."
http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/3/138222