Which Richmond Hill New Construction Homes Are for Sale?

Type "Heartwood Richmond Hill" into a search bar right now and you will get two different developments, both real, both under construction, both using the same name. One will sell you a house. The other will not, no matter how much you like the floor plan.

If you are comparing Richmond Hill against other coastal Georgia towns and you have already seen the headlines about the town's building boom, this distinction matters more than it sounds like it should. It is the difference between construction activity that will eventually show up as a listing you can put an offer on, and construction activity that will never touch the for-sale market at all.

Same Name, Two Different Products

The first Heartwood is a build-to-rent community from Jim Chapman Construction Group, a general contractor that specializes in building rental housing at scale. As announced in December 2025, the company had begun framing Phase One, 213 homes and a clubhouse, of what is planned as a 365-home community near the Hyundai Metaplant corridor, with a second phase slated to start later in 2026. The broader master plan around it is reportedly scaled for a 25-year build-out of more than 10,000 homes. None of those homes will be listed for sale. They are built to be leased, unit by unit, to tenants.

The second Heartwood is a for-sale, master-planned community from PulteGroup, built under its Centex and Pulte brands, sitting at Belfast Keller Road and Great Ogeechee Parkway. This one dates back further, originally announced with 172 homesites split between the two builders. It is actively selling today, with homes priced from the high $350,000s into the high $460,000s.

Same word on the sign. Two entirely different transactions waiting behind it.

Why the Overlap Isn't a Coincidence Worth Ignoring

Richmond Hill's population has grown fast enough that both products make sense at the same time. The city's population sits at roughly 21,000 in 2026, more than double what it was in 2010, and the growth traces directly to two employers: Fort Stewart, which has anchored the area for decades, and the Hyundai Metaplant, which is still ramping toward its full workforce target. That kind of growth creates housing demand from two very different directions. Some of it comes from buyers who want to put down roots. Some of it comes from workers who need a place to live now and will decide later whether to stay.

Build-to-rent developers are built for the second group. That is not a criticism of the model. It is a rational response to a market where demand is arriving faster than a construction crew can turn a lot into a closed sale. But it means a chunk of what gets counted, informally, as "new construction in Richmond Hill" will never relieve pressure on the for-sale side of the market, because it was never meant to.

Where That Pressure Is Actually Showing Up

Here is the number that makes the Heartwood mix-up worth caring about. As of early September 2026, townhomes are the tightest inventory segment in Richmond Hill, sitting at roughly 2.75 months of supply, the leanest of any property type tracked in the city. The sub-$300,000 price point inside that segment draws the most competitive interest, pulling attention from military buyers relocating with Fort Stewart, first-time buyers, and households moving in from out of state.

That is the exact price band a build-to-rent community does nothing for. If you are house-hunting under $300,000 in Richmond Hill this fall, the fact that hundreds of new homes are going vertical a few miles away does not change your competition, because those homes were never going to be your competition.

Meanwhile, the city-wide average sale price climbed from $437,648 to $515,041 over the past year, a jump of more than $77,000. Homes are also selling roughly a month faster than they were a year ago. Overall inventory has loosened somewhat from an earlier high point this year of about 6.4 months down to around 3.3 months, which sounds like room to breathe until you remember that number is an average across every price point and property type. The entry-level segment where a build-to-rent community's absence is felt most did not get that same relief.

The One Piece of Real For-Sale Relief Still on Paper

There is a genuine reason for cautious optimism if you are patient. DR Horton is entering Bryan County for the first time with a community called The Harbor, currently listed as coming soon. Pricing, floor plans, and square footage have not been published yet, but the amenity package on file includes a pool, pavilion, and pickleball courts. If and when The Harbor opens for sale, it will be new for-sale supply from a national builder that has not previously operated in this county. That is different from a build-to-rent phase going vertical. It is worth watching, but it is not here yet, and buyers shopping today should not price it into their current search.

What This Means If You're Touring New Construction

When a listing agent or a builder's sales office mentions a "new community" in Richmond Hill, ask a direct question before you get attached to a floor plan: is this a for-sale community, or is it built-to-rent? It is not a question buyers are used to asking, because in most markets the answer is obvious. In a market absorbing this much growth this fast, it is not obvious anymore, and the Heartwood name proves it.

If your search is anchored to the sub-$300,000 townhome segment, treat the current tight inventory as the real condition you are working with, not a temporary squeeze that new construction is about to fix. Pricing and presentation matter more here than in a looser market. A well-priced, well-prepared home in that band is still moving quickly, but overpriced listings are the ones sitting.

If your budget sits closer to the city average, the picture is a little different. You have more room to be selective, and the pace of price growth over the past year means comparing recent closed sales, not asking prices, is the only way to know what a home is actually worth right now.

FAQ

Is the build-to-rent Heartwood connected to the for-sale Heartwood in any way? No. They share a name and both sit in Richmond Hill, but they come from different developers, sit in different locations, and serve different purposes. One is rental housing. The other is for-sale housing built by Pulte and Centex.

Will the build-to-rent community eventually add for-sale inventory once it's built out? There is no indication of that. Build-to-rent communities are structured to stay in rental ownership, often held by an institutional owner rather than sold off unit by unit. Treat that inventory as permanently separate from the resale and new-construction market you are shopping in.

Should I wait for DR Horton's Harbor community before making an offer elsewhere? That depends on your timeline and how firm your price target is. The Harbor has no published pricing or opening date yet, so it is not something to build a search strategy around today. If you are ready to buy now, the current for-sale inventory, including the Pulte and Centex Heartwood, is the market you are actually working with.

If you are trying to figure out which "new construction" in Richmond Hill is actually available to buy, and which price band makes sense given how tight the entry-level market has gotten, that is exactly the kind of local read a search filter cannot give you. Jenna Green works this market daily and can walk you through what is actually for sale right now versus what only looks like it. Schedule a consultation to get a clear picture before you tour your next new-construction community.