Williamson County among top 10 in the nation for new building permits

Sandy Mazza  |  USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee 4:05 p.m. CDT May 25, 2018

Investment in Williamson County has soared beyond the rest of the state, landing it in the top 10 counties in the nation issuing the most new building permits, a new review of federal data shows.

For every 1,000 homes in Williamson County, 35 building permits were issued in 2016 — the most recently available data.

Meanwhile, the median home price in the county recently topped $500,000 — nearly double what it was in 2012.

Franklin, the county seat, also emerged as the eighth-fastest growing city in the nation, in terms of new residents.

New homes and a wide range of incoming businesses are fueling the expansion, said CBRE Managing Director Stephen Kulinski.

“Health care businesses, tech companies, Schneider Electric, a number of insurance companies — it’s general growth,” Kulinski said. “Nashville is still perceived to be a cheap place to work and to run your business. These companies are looking to take advantage of tax savings and still have a highly educated workforce.”

While Williamson County issued the most new building permits, Maury and Davidson counties weren’t far behind, with 33 and 31 permits issued per 1,000 homes, respectively.

Cheatham and Jackson counties enjoyed the highest rates of new-business growth from 2013 to 2016, though total investment there was much lower than their more populous neighbors.

SmartAsset, an online personal-finance tool, compiled the numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Statewide, Shelby and Davidson counties held a wide lead in the total value of all goods and services they produced, including retail sales for personal consumption, business investment and government spending.

“Davidson had lower new-business permit growth, but was higher in other areas,” said AJ Smith, SmartAsset’s vice president of financial education. “The business growth and new building permits in Williamson County were very high.”

Davidson and Shelby counties each had GDP growth topping $3 billion from 2013 to 2016, while Williamson had just over $1 billion.