The honest answer begins with a correction to the question: the research compiled for St Simons Island documents a single ZIP code, 31522, and no other island ZIP code carries a verified resale figure in the source material. Within 31522, resale value is not spread evenly. It concentrates where the research locates the island premiums, in the beachfront blocks, the marsh-view corridors and the Village, while mid-island properties are priced by the same lot and elevation logic at lower finished price points. In the sample of 17 older homes drawn from 31522, older homes averaged 23.1 percent of the price of new construction on a comparable lot, and builders acquired 9 of the 17 (Frontier Capitals, 2026). So the ranking this report can defend is a ranking inside one ZIP code, by segment, and the limit behind that answer is stated openly rather than papered over with figures for ZIP codes the material never measured.

That single ZIP framing is not a technicality. St Simons Island sits in Glynn County across the causeway from the mainland, and the research treats 31522 as the island submarket on its own terms, ranked 84 of 189 markets in the wider study. New construction on standard island lots has sold in the $1,100,000 to $1,900,000 range depending on beach or marsh proximity and lot size (Redfin, 2026). Those finished prices are the engine of resale value for older homes, because the older home on a comparable lot trades at the sample ratio to them. Where the finished price is highest, the land under an older home is worth most, and that is where resale values peak inside 31522. The segment pattern is examined for older homes specifically in the report on how much older homes are worth in the 31522 ZIP code, which applies the ratio lot by lot.

Owners who have seen resale rankings that slice the island into several ZIP codes should ask what those rankings are built on. A ranking needs recorded sales grouped by ZIP, and the county deed record is where such groupings would have to come from (Glynn County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026). The material behind this report groups its sample by the one ZIP it documents. Anything finer or wider would be an estimate dressed as a finding, and this report does not offer one. What it offers instead is the documented structure of value inside 31522, which turns out to be more actionable for a seller than a ZIP league table, because a seller owns a lot in a segment, not a share of a ZIP average.

Aerial view of St Simons Island rooftops and marsh edge inside the single documented 31522 ZIP code
Island aerial within ZIP code 31522, the one ZIP code with documented resale figures in this research.

Key Findings

  • The source material documents one St Simons Island ZIP code, 31522, and publishes no verified resale figure for any other island ZIP code.
  • Inside 31522, older homes in the sample averaged 23.1 percent of new build prices on comparable lots (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
  • Builders acquired 9 of the 17 sampled older homes in 31522, a demand rate of 52.9 percent (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
  • New construction on standard lots in 31522 has sold from $1,100,000 to $1,900,000 depending on beach or marsh proximity and lot size (Redfin, 2026).
  • At the sample ratio, an older home comparable to a $1,400,000 new build changed hands for roughly $325,000 (Frontier Capitals, 2026).

Why does one ZIP code contain such a wide spread of resale values?

Because a ZIP code is a mail boundary, not a value boundary. Inside 31522, the research identifies three geographies, the village area, mid-island and the beachfront, and it names the beachfront blocks and the marsh-view corridors alongside the village area as the segments carrying premiums. A cottage a short walk from the beach and a cottage deep in the island interior share a ZIP code and almost nothing else that matters to price. The finished homes that will eventually stand on their lots sit at opposite ends of the documented $1,100,000 to $1,900,000 range, and the older homes follow their lots.

The worked illustration in the research shows how a finished price becomes a land value. From a $1,500,000 new build sale, subtract roughly $620,000 of hard and soft construction costs and a builder margin near 20 percent, and the residual land value sits near $550,000 to $650,000, before $20,000 to $35,000 in site preparation. That illustration is simplified and is not a quote for any property, but it explains the spread: raise the finished price toward the beachfront end of the range and the residual rises with it; lower it toward the interior end and the residual falls. Resale value for an older home tracks that residual far more closely than it tracks any ZIP wide average, a pattern also visible in the report on whether homes in north St Simons Island are worth more than homes in the south, where the compass framing fails for the same reason the ZIP framing does.

Automated estimates illustrate the flattening problem from the other side. Valuation tools work from recorded and listed data across the ZIP (Zillow, 2026), and in a ZIP where a new build can sell for nearly twice an interior finished price, an average based estimate can flatter an interior cottage and understate a beachfront lot in the same week. County parcel records, which carry lot dimensions and flood zone designations property by property, are the corrective starting point (Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026). House price trends for the wider coastal Georgia market provide background movement (Federal Housing Finance Agency, 2026), but they cannot rank streets inside 31522, and this report does not pretend otherwise.

What actually ranks highest inside 31522?

Position first, in the order the research documents. Beachfront and marsh-view premiums appear in new build comps and lift the finished prices that set land values, so older homes on lots with those positions sit at the top of the islands resale pattern even when the structures on them are modest ranch homes and cottages from the 1950s through the 1970s. The Village, the island original district at the south end, carries its own premium as a named segment. Mid-island lots follow the same arithmetic at finished prices closer to the lower part of the documented range. The full segment by segment ranking is set out in the report on which St Simons Island neighborhoods have the highest property values, which is the closest thing to a league table the documented evidence supports.

Lot size and buildable footprint rank second. The sample minimum lot was 6,098 square feet (Frontier Capitals, 2026), and flood zone setbacks constrain the buildable envelope on many island parcels, so two lots with the same measured area can support different finished homes and carry different values. Parcel dimensions and flood designations sit in county records (Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026), and permit and tree protection requirements, including the live oak canopy builders price around, run through county development review (Glynn County Community Development, 2026). Elevation and flood compliance rank third, capping what can be built and shaping insurance cost, with flood insurance pricing governed by the National Flood Insurance Program Risk Rating 2.0 methodology and elevation certificate requirements (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2026).

The view question deserves a direct word because it is often folded into ZIP rankings as if it were a ZIP trait. The island has marsh views and beach views, and those premiums are documented in segment terms in this research. A related curiosity, whether a view of distant high ground could add value on a flat barrier island, is taken up in the report on whether homes with mountain views sell for more in St Simons Island, which answers by method through the documented marsh and beach premiums. The lesson carries back to this ranking: price the view the lot actually has, in the segment it actually occupies, and ignore any table that assigns the premium to a whole ZIP code.

New island home near the beachfront blocks, at the high end of the documented finished price range inside 31522
Finished island construction in a premium segment, showing where resale values concentrate inside the ZIP code.

How does resale value reach the seller, and what trims it?

A headline resale figure is not what a seller keeps, and inside 31522 the trims are well documented. On a $550,000 sale, a typical total commission of 5 to 6 percent takes $27,500 to $33,000 (National Association of Realtors, 2025), and seller side closing costs, title, transfer taxes and prorations commonly add another 1 to 2 percent, so commissions and closing costs together run 6 to 8 percent, or $33,000 to $44,000 on that example. Georgia transfer tax is charged at $1 per $1,000 of consideration (Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026), a small line that still belongs in the ledger. Sellers of older island homes commonly concede $10,000 to $25,000 in concessions and credits after inspection, while keeping a home for three to six months of selling time adds another $15,000 to $35,000, a burden lifted by wind and flood premiums far costlier than those inland. A $550,000 list price can therefore net in the mid-$400,000s after a normal market cycle, before any price reduction, which is why the segment a home sits in matters twice: once for the price, and once for how long the trims keep running.

National patterns sharpen the point. In the February 2026 report in the source pool, 62.2 percent of homes sold below original list price in 2025, with an average discount of 7.9 percent among those sales (Redfin, 2026). An island seller who prices from a ZIP average rather than from segment evidence is exposed to exactly that pattern, because the average overstates an interior home and invites the reduction cycle. Pricing from recorded sales in the same segment, checked in the deed record (Glynn County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026), is the documented alternative, and it is the approach this report recommends over any ZIP wide background figure.

Timing interacts with the trims rather than with the ZIP. A listed older island home commonly takes 60 to 120-plus days, and every extra month adds insurance, taxes, utilities and maintenance. Nationally, the typical sold home spent 46 days on market in the September 2026 housing update in the source pool, so the island listed timeline for older stock is long even by current standards. Sellers in an estate process face the same arithmetic with legal sequencing on top, a situation addressed in the report on how long probate takes before a house can be sold in St Simons Island and in the report on what happens to the proceeds from selling a probate house in St Simons Island, where the sale price only becomes distributable after the documented steps run in order.

What does a direct sale offer a seller in the highest value segments?

The same five benefits that apply across the island apply with extra force where values are highest, because every percentage point saved is worth more dollars. Frontier Capitals is a wholesaler that sources off-market deals to builders and buys directly from sellers; it is not a builder. First, privacy: zero showings, zero open houses, no public marketing period and no public record until the deed transfers, a real consideration on a small island where a listing in a premium segment draws attention a seller may not want. Second, flexible closing: 7 to 21 days when speed matters, or months out with a leaseback, against the 60 to 120-plus day listed norm for older island homes.

Third, no commissions, sparing the typical 5 to 6 percent, $27,500 to $33,000 on a $550,000 sale (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Fourth, no seller closing costs, sparing the further 1 to 2 percent, with the combined saving of $33,000 to $44,000 on that example. Fifth, no inspections or repairs, so no $10,000 to $25,000 repair credits and no renegotiation over the condition of a structure the buyer is pricing as a site. Because the structure on an older lot in this ZIP is priced at or near zero by the modal buyer at the 23.1 percent ratio, an as-is sale is the market native format for a builder acquisition candidate (Frontier Capitals, 2026). A seller can still verify the buyer: proof of funds in the buyer name dated within the last 30 days, and recorded deeds in the buying entity name from actually closed purchases, checkable in county records (Glynn County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026).

Quiet established street inside 31522 where older cottages sit on lots priced by segment rather than by ZIP average
Established St Simons Island street showing older homes whose resale values follow segment and lot evidence.

Methodology and limitations

This report is built on the sample compiled for the St Simons Island research: 17 older homes in 31522 built in 1980 or earlier, 9 of them acquired by builders (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The figures are sample figures for that ZIP code, not a census of it. The governing limitation for this headline is plain: the source material documents no other St Simons Island ZIP code and publishes no resale figure, sample or average, for any ZIP code beyond 31522, so no inter-ZIP ranking is reported and none should be inferred. Rankings inside 31522 are stated in segment terms because that is how the research documents premiums. The worked residual illustration is labeled simplified in the research and is used the same way here. No property was inspected and no appraisal was performed for this report, and automated valuation data (Zillow, 2026) is discussed as context rather than treated as a ranking source.

Conclusion

St Simons Island has one documented ZIP code in this research, 31522, and inside it the highest resale values follow the beachfront blocks, the marsh-view corridors and the Village, where finished prices at the top of the $1,100,000 to $1,900,000 range pull land values up under older homes (Redfin, 2026; Frontier Capitals, 2026). A seller gains more from placing a home correctly inside that segment structure, and netting the documented costs honestly, than from any ranking that pretends the island divides neatly by postal boundary.

Owners who want a segment level reading of a 31522 property and its likely resale position can telephone Frontier Capitals at 401-219-4207 or email [email protected].

If your ZIP code contains both the highest and the lowest resale values on the island, what evidence about your own segment should you gather before believing any ranking?

Frequently Asked Questions

How many St Simons Island ZIP codes does this research document?

One: 31522. The sample of 17 older homes, the new construction range and the segment premiums in this report all come from that ZIP code (Frontier Capitals, 2026; Redfin, 2026). No verified figure for another island ZIP code appears in the source material, so this report does not rank any.

Where inside 31522 are resale values highest?

In the segments the research names as carrying premiums: the beachfront blocks, the marsh-view corridors and the Village. Finished prices in those positions reach toward the top of the documented $1,100,000 to $1,900,000 new build range, and older home values follow through the land (Frontier Capitals, 2026).

Why is a ZIP wide average a poor guide for my home?

Because the spread inside the ZIP is wider than the differences a ZIP table usually reports. An interior mid-island lot and a beachfront lot support very different finished homes, and the older homes on them trade at the sample ratio of 23.1 percent to very different numbers (Frontier Capitals, 2026).

What records can I check for my own property?

County parcel records carry lot dimensions and flood zone designations (Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026), and recorded deeds show what comparable island properties actually transferred for (Glynn County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026). Those two records, read for your segment, beat any ZIP average.

Does selling directly change which segment is worth most?

No. The segment structure sets the value either way. A direct sale changes the costs and timing around the value: no commission at the typical 5 to 6 percent, no seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent, and a closing in 7 to 21 days rather than 60 to 120-plus days listed (National Association of Realtors, 2025).

Sellers in St Simons Island also ask What Happens to the Mortgage When Someone Inherits a House 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 Clerk of Superior Court, 2026. Recorded deeds and plat records for 31522. Official record.
  • Glynn County Community Development, 2026. Building permit and tree protection requirements for St Simons Island. Official record.
  • Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2026. National Flood Insurance Program: Risk Rating 2.0 methodology and elevation certificate requirements. Government data.
  • Federal Housing Finance Agency, 2026. House Price Index data for coastal Georgia markets. Government data.
  • National Association of Realtors, 2025. Highlights from the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Industry report.
  • Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026. Real estate transfer tax: $1 per $1,000 of consideration. Official record.