By Aidan Sowa · October 2026 · St Simons Island, GeorgiaMarket value and land value answer two different questions about the same address. Market value asks what a buyer who wants to live in the house will pay for the house and the lot together. Land value asks what a buyer who wants the site will pay for the lot alone, treating the existing structure as worth little or nothing. On St Simons Island those two numbers often sit far apart, and the sample compiled for this report shows how far. Of 17 older homes sampled in 31522, 9 were acquired by builders, a builder demand rate of 52.9 percent, and the average older home price was 23.1 percent of the new build price on a comparable lot (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
That ratio explains why the distinction matters here more than it would on the mainland. Where a new build sells for $1,400,000, the older home on a comparable lot changed hands for roughly $325,000 in the sample illustration, which means over three quarters of the new home value sits in the land rather than in any structure (Frontier Capitals, 2026). On typical lots, newly built homes have traded anywhere from $1.1M to $1.9M, the spread reflecting closeness to beach or marsh and the size of the parcel (Redfin, 2026). An owner who only knows a single estimate for the property does not yet know which value that estimate is describing, and confusing the two is the most common reason an island sale starts at the wrong price and with the wrong buyer pool.
Owners working through an estate face the same confusion in a sharper form, because a valuation prepared for the family is not always a valuation prepared for the market. Questions that arise in that setting, such as whether a probate court needs to approve the sale of a house, sit alongside the pricing question rather than replacing it. The pricing question still has to be answered first, in two parts: what the house is worth as a home, and what the lot is worth as a site.
Key Findings
- In the 31522 sample, 17 older homes were sampled, 9 were acquired by builders, and the builder demand rate was 52.9 percent (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Older homes in the sample averaged just 23.1 percent of what a comparable lot's new build commanded, a ratio lower than any other in its batch (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Where a new build sells for $1,400,000, the older home on a comparable lot changed hands for roughly $325,000, leaving over three quarters of the new home value in the land (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- For standard lots, recent new builds fall between $1.1M and $1.9M, varying with how near the beach or marsh a lot lies and how much land it offers (Redfin, 2026).
- The sample minimum lot was 6,098 sq ft, and lot size and buildable footprint rank second among the factors that move land value in the research (Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026; Frontier Capitals, 2026).
What does market value actually measure?
A market value figure treats the house and its lot together as a place to live in, not as ground alone. It reflects the kitchen, the roof, the floor plan, the condition of the systems, and the way a household imagines living in the rooms, as well as the lot underneath. A live-in buyer compares one island house with another island house, weighs updates against deferred work, and pays for the combination. That is why a genuinely livable, well kept home with updated systems and no functional obsolescence can capture a live-in buyer premium by listing as a home rather than as a homesite, a point the research states plainly as the honest exception to the land driven pattern (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Automated estimates speak mostly to this first value, and they speak with limits. Valuation tools draw on recorded sales and parcel data, including the lot dimensions and flood zone designations held in county records (Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026), and on home value and recently sold data for the ZIP code (Zillow, 2026). Those inputs describe what similar homes have sold for. They do not inspect the roof, they do not price a future building envelope, and they do not know whether the next buyer intends to live in the house or replace it. An estimate can therefore be a reasonable guide to market value as a home while saying very little about land value as a site.
Market value is also time sensitive in a way owners feel through the listing ledger. A listed older island home more commonly takes 60 to 120-plus days, and carrying costs over three to six months of market time run $15,000 to $35,000, covering mortgage or equity opportunity cost, insurance, taxes, utilities and maintenance, with wind and flood insurance well above mainland levels (Frontier Capitals, 2026). House price movement in coastal Georgia markets provides the broader context for how that market value shifts while a home sits (Federal Housing Finance Agency, 2026). The price a home might achieve is not the amount a seller keeps, and the gap between the two is widest on the listed route.
What does land value actually measure?
Land value measures the site alone. It reflects position on the island first, because beachfront and marsh-view premiums show up in new-build comps but rarely in older-home listings, and the research ranks location ahead of every other factor in moving that value (Frontier Capitals, 2026). It reflects lot size and buildable footprint second, against a sample minimum lot of 6,098 sq ft, with flood-zone setbacks constraining the envelope that can actually be built (Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026). It reflects elevation and flood compliance third, because those features cap what can be built and therefore what the ground itself is worth.
The arithmetic behind a land value is a residual, worked backward from a finished sale. The research gives a simplified illustration, labeled as such and not a promise: a $1,500,000 new-build sale, minus roughly $620,000 in hard and soft construction costs and a builder margin near 20 percent, leaves a residual land value near $550,000 to $650,000, before $20,000 to $35,000 in site-preparation costs (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Parcel and permit records help a buyer test that residual against a specific lot, because they show dimensions, prior permits and the recorded shape of the site (Glynn County Tax Assessor, 2026). Building permit and tree protection requirements also shape what the residual can assume, since the live oak canopy is part of what builders price around on this island (Glynn County Community Development, 2026).
That backward arithmetic is why two owners on the same street can hold very different land values while holding similar houses. A wider lot, a better view corridor toward the marsh, or a higher elevation can lift the residual without changing the cottage at all. Conversely, a tight envelope or a difficult flood position can hold the residual down even when the house itself is charming. Owners who want the fuller method can read how homeowners determine whether a property is worth more as land, which works through the same comparison step by step.
Why can the two values be so far apart on this island?
Because buildable land here is finite and the structure on an older lot is priced at or near zero by the modal buyer. St Simons Island is a barrier island. The original mid-century stock, ranch homes and cottages built from the 1950s through the 1970s, sits under live oaks on lots that cannot be manufactured to meet demand (Frontier Capitals, 2026). When most buyers in a sample are builders, the bidding is for position, frontage and envelope, not for a dated kitchen. In that setting the house contributes shelter value to a minority of buyers and almost nothing to the majority, so market value as a home and land value as a site pull away from each other.
Renovation widens the gap in one direction and narrows it in the other, which is why owners misread it so often. The research illustration prices a $75,000 update on a 1968 island cottage and finds it might lift the sale price by $50,000 to $65,000 for a live-in buyer, while returning $0 if the buyer clears the lot, because that buyer assigns the improvements no value (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The same dollars therefore raise market value modestly and raise land value not at all. National evidence that maintaining older homes costs new owners more adds a further drag on what a live-in buyer will pay for an unrenovated house. An owner deciding where to spend before a sale needs to know which value the spending is meant to move.
Flood and insurance pull on both values, but not equally. Flood zone maps and permit records for the island sit in county files (Glynn County, 2026), and the National Flood Insurance Program Risk Rating 2.0 methodology and elevation certificate requirements shape what insurance costs on a given lot (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2026). For a live-in buyer, a high insurance bill lowers what the house is worth as a home month after month. For a builder pricing the site, elevation matters mainly because it governs the cost and feasibility of the next house. The same fact, flood position, therefore enters the two calculations through different doors.
Which value should a seller price from?
Price from the higher of the two, but only after testing both honestly. If the home is genuinely livable, with updated systems, sound structure and no functional obsolescence, the live-in market may pay above the land residual, and listing as a home tests that possibility. If the home is dated, tired or functionally obsolete for modern island living, the land value is usually the realistic ceiling, and presenting the property as a home at a home price invites the slow outcome the research describes for mispriced older stock. A useful cross-check is how much a residential lot is worth in St Simons Island, set against recent sales of comparable houses rather than against asking prices alone.
Family situations can force the question before an owner feels ready to ask it. When several heirs hold an interest, the disagreement is frequently about which value is real, with one heir pricing the childhood home and another pricing the lot. The documented route in those cases runs through clear authority to sell, a point explored in whether heirs can sell a probate property without everyone agreeing. A neutral, bid based figure for the land gives arguing parties a number grounded in buyer behavior rather than in memory, which is often what allows the discussion to move.
Vacancy changes the balance again. An empty older house earns nothing, deteriorates quietly and still carries insurance, taxes and upkeep, so holding it while debating its market value as a home can cost more than the premium the debate is meant to protect. Owners in that position may find how to sell a vacant house quickly relevant, because a vacant property is most often priced, in practice, from its land value outward. The longer the property sits empty, the more the arithmetic favors the faster, land based route.
How does a direct off-market sale handle the two values?
A direct sale prices the land and skips the cost of testing the home value in public. Frontier Capitals is a wholesaler. Its role is to match off-market properties with builders while also purchasing straight from owners, without presenting itself as a builder itself. That positioning matters for this question, because the offer a seller receives on that route is a land based offer, stated plainly, against which the seller can compare a listed attempt at market value with its costs fully counted.
The five benefits of that route, stated at island price points, are as follows. First, privacy: zero showings, zero open houses, no public marketing period and no public record until the deed transfers, which carries real weight on a small island where everyone knows whose cottage is whose. Second, flexible closing: a direct sale can close in 7 to 21 days when speed matters, or months out with a leaseback, against 60 to 120-plus days for a listed older island home. Third, no commissions: the typical total commission is 5 to 6 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025), which is $27,500 to $33,000 on a $550,000 sale. Fourth, no seller closing costs: seller-side closing costs commonly run another 1 to 2 percent, and commissions plus closing costs together run 6 to 8 percent, or $33,000 to $44,000 on that same $550,000 sale. Fifth, no inspections or repairs: concessions and inspection repair credits on older island inventory routinely run $10,000 to $25,000, and none of that negotiation happens when the buyer is purchasing the land and performs no structural inspection.
Georgia transfer tax still belongs in any net comparison, at $1 per $1,000 of consideration, because a seller comparing a headline market value with a land based offer should compare both after their respective costs. A $550,000 list price, on the research ledger, nets in the mid-$400,000s after a normal market cycle once commissions, closing costs, repair credits and carrying costs are counted, and before any price reduction. Set beside a land based offer with none of those deductions, the distance between market value and land value at the closing table is often much smaller than the distance between the two headline figures.
Methodology and limitations
This report rests on the sample compiled for this research: 17 older homes in 31522, built in 1980 or earlier, of which 9 were acquired by builders (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Every number here comes from that sample, so it should be read as sample evidence rather than a full count of every property in the ZIP code. The 23.1 percent ratio is an average across that sample on comparable lots, and the dollar illustrations, including the $1,400,000 and $325,000 pairing and the $1,500,000 residual example, are the research illustrations applied as labeled, simplified and not promises for any specific lot. Lot, flood and parcel facts are drawn from county records (Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026; Glynn County Tax Assessor, 2026), and finished sale ranges are drawn from market data for the ZIP code (Redfin, 2026; Zillow, 2026). No appraisal was performed for this report, no property was inspected, and no individual lot residual was calculated. A specific property can sit well above or below the sample average on either value, depending on its position, envelope and condition.
Conclusion
Market value prices a St Simons Island property as a home for someone who will live in it. Land value prices the same property as a site for someone who will build on it. In a sample where builders acquired 9 of 17 older homes and the average older home price was 23.1 percent of the new build price, the second value governs most transactions, and the first value governs only the minority of homes that are genuinely ready for a live-in buyer at a premium (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Knowing which value a given cottage actually holds is the difference between a sale priced for the buyers who exist and a listing priced for buyers who do not.
Owners who want both values worked through for a specific island property, the home value and the land value side by side, can telephone Frontier Capitals at 401-219-4207 or email [email protected].
If the buyers who want your lot would pay more than the buyers who want your house, which of the two values have you been calling the price of your home?
Frequently Asked Questions
Can land value be higher than market value for the same house?
Yes. When the lot is strong and the house is dated, the residual a builder can pay for the site can exceed what a live-in buyer will pay for the house on it. In the sample, the average older home price was 23.1 percent of the new build price on a comparable lot (Frontier Capitals, 2026), which means most of the money in the transaction was land money.
Does an online estimate show land value or market value?
An online estimate speaks mainly to market value as a home, built from recorded sales and valuation data for the ZIP code (Zillow, 2026). It does not calculate a building envelope, apply construction costs or work a residual, so it should not be read as a land valuation for a specific lot.
What raises land value without changing the house at all?
Position on the island raises it first, through beachfront and marsh-view premiums in new-build comps. Lot size and buildable footprint raise it second, and elevation and flood compliance raise or cap it third, because they govern what can be built on the site (Frontier Capitals, 2026; Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026).
Should a seller renovate to lift market value above land value?
Only where the home can genuinely compete as a home afterward. A $75,000 update on a 1968 cottage might lift the price by $50,000 to $65,000 for a live-in buyer and returns $0 with a lot buyer (Frontier Capitals, 2026), so renovation aimed at the wrong buyer pool spends money without moving the governing value.
How do sale costs change the comparison between the two values?
On a $550,000 listed sale, commissions of 5 to 6 percent and closing costs of 1 to 2 percent together run $33,000 to $44,000, before repair credits of $10,000 to $25,000 and carrying costs (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). Counted honestly, a listed market value nets far less than its headline, while a direct land based sale avoids most of those deductions.
Sellers in St Simons Island also ask Can a House Be Sold for Cash Above Market Value in St Simons Island?
Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189 neighborhood builder acquisition sample: 17 homes sampled in 31522, 9 acquired by builders, average older home price 23.1 percent of new build. Market data.
- Redfin, 2026. Recently sold homes and new construction, ZIP code 31522, St. Simons Island GA. Market data.
- Zillow, 2026. Home values and recently sold, 31522. Market data.
- Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026. Parcel records, flood zone designations, and lot dimensions for St Simons Island. Official record.
- Glynn County Tax Assessor, 2026. Parcel and permit records, St. Simons Island GA. Official record.
- Glynn County Community Development, 2026. Building permit and tree protection requirements for St Simons Island. Official record.
- Glynn County, 2026. Flood zone maps and permit records for St Simons Island. Official record.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Highlights from the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Industry report.
- Federal Housing Finance Agency, 2026. House Price Index data for coastal Georgia markets. Government data.
- Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2026. National Flood Insurance Program: Risk Rating 2.0 methodology and elevation certificate requirements. Government data.