Open data · CC-BY 4.0

Savannah, GA cost segregation benchmarks (2026)

Engine-derived ROI data from 5 representative Savannah-area properties. Methodology transparent below. CC-BY 4.0, journalists, CPAs, and researchers may cite this dataset with attribution.

Three key findings for Savannah

  1. Median engine-estimated Year-1 federal savings: $47,117 (interquartile range $39,374–$50,167, full range $24,980–$70,504) across 5 representative fixtures with purchase prices $525,000–$985,000. Assumptions: 100% bonus depreciation under OBBBA; 37% federal top marginal bracket. Individual property results vary substantially based on specific condition, renovation history, and rental treatment.
  2. Median reclassification ratio: 22.6% (interquartile range 22.3%–23.3%, full range 15.5%–24.7%). Furnished STRs sit higher in the range due to FF&E density; long-term rentals sit lower; renovation-cost-pool-driven properties span both. Your specific property may fall outside this range either direction depending on actual condition and renovation history.
  3. Median land allocation: 17.6% (interquartile range 17.1%–18.6%, full range 17.0%–20.0%). Resort-tier and high-cost-of-land neighborhoods (where the engine's premium land floor often applies) compress depreciable basis as a percentage of purchase price, but produce larger absolute dollar deductions. See the methodology note below the neighborhood table for the premium-floor mechanism.

Important framing: These are engine outputs for representative fixture scenarios, not predictions about any specific property. The cost segregation engine takes real property data (address, year built, square footage, renovation history, assessor records) and produces a study tailored to your actual property. The aggregate numbers shown here describe the Savannah market's general profile; your specific results will reflect your specific property.

Per-fixture results

Each fixture was run through the Cost Seg Smart engine, the same engine that produces real customer studies. Numbers below are reproducible from cities/savannah.json via scripts/run_city_stats.py.

Property Neighborhood Price Basis Land % 5-yr 15-yr Reclass % Y1 fed savings @ 37%
Historic District Townhome STR
SFR · STR · Built 1872
Historic District (square-anchored) $985,000 $817,747 17.0% $131,164 $56,057 23.3% $70,504
Victorian District Renovated SFR
SFR · STR · Built 1892
Victorian District / Thomas Square $685,000 $564,303 17.6% $87,824 $37,460 22.6% $47,117
Starland District SFR STR
SFR · STR · Built 1925
Starland District $585,000 $476,307 18.6% $73,028 $31,710 22.3% $39,374
Ardsley Park Bungalow
SFR · Built 1932
Ardsley Park / Chatham Crescent $525,000 $435,435 17.1% $36,581 $30,932 15.5% $24,980
Tybee Island Beach Cottage STR
SFR · STR · Built 1998
Tybee Island (Chatham County coastal) $685,000 $548,206 20.0% $97,836 $35,352 24.7% $50,167

Reclassification by property type

Engine property typeFixturesMedian reclass %MinMax
SFR 5 22.6% 15.5% 24.7%

"STR" denotes residential property operating as a short-term rental, the engine applies an FF&E density uplift not captured in the LTR (long-term rental) treatment.

Typical land allocation by neighborhood

NeighborhoodTypical valueTypical land allocationProfile note
Historic District (square-anchored) $985,000 ~34% Heart of Savannah's historic core, 1800s townhomes, carriage houses, and Italianate residences arranged around the city's iconic squares. Highest land allocation due to historic-district scarcity. Renovation-cost-seg drives the math.
Victorian District / Thomas Square $685,000 ~28% Late-1800s Victorian and Eastlake stock just south of the Historic District. Heavy post-2010 renovation activity. Mid-tier land allocation. Active STR rental market.
Starland District $585,000 ~26% Emerging arts-district neighborhood with 1920s SFR stock undergoing gentrification-driven renovation. Lower land allocation than Historic District. Mix of fix-and-flip and STR.
Ardsley Park / Chatham Crescent $525,000 ~24% Historic streetcar-suburb residential south of midtown. 1920s–1940s SFR and bungalow stock. Mid-tier land allocation. Mix of LTR and STR with HOA-free flexibility.
Tybee Island (Chatham County coastal) $685,000 ~22% Coastal barrier-island sub-market east of Savannah. Beach SFR and condo stock. Lower land allocation than Historic District. Active beach STR market subject to Tybee's specific STR ordinance.
Why per-fixture engine output may differ from the typical land allocation:

The "typical land allocation" column reflects baseline patterns for each sub-market based on county assessor records and statistical modeling. For specific properties where reconstruction cost (RSMeans 2024 component build-up adjusted for time and geography) exceeds 2.0× the implied depreciable basis after subtracting the baseline land, the engine applies a premium land floor (~50%) to keep the study within audit-defensible territory. This typically affects ultra-premium resort inventory (ski-in/ski-out, beachfront, view-premium properties), where land scarcity premium dominates the purchase price. The per-fixture table above shows the actual land_source used by the engine for each fixture, values of statistical_premium_floor indicate the premium-floor mechanism was applied.

The takeaway: typical neighborhood allocations describe the market baseline. Individual property results depend on specific reconstruction-cost-vs-purchase-price ratios, and ultra-premium product may show higher land allocation in the engine output than the neighborhood typical.

Georgia tax context

Georgia state position on §168(k) bonus depreciation:

Georgia partially decouples from federal §168(k). GA historically required an addback for federal bonus depreciation, with the addback amount recovered over the regular MACRS schedule for state purposes. For 2025+ acquisitions under OBBBA's 100% federal bonus, a portion of accelerated reclassification dollars hit a GA-side timing mismatch. At GA's 5.49% flat rate, the absolute dollar impact is modest but real. The federal §168(k) acceleration is unaffected; only the GA Schedule 1 reconciliation is the variable.

Decoupling: Georgia's bonus depreciation conformity has been modified multiple times. Verify current-year treatment with your CPA. The federal deduction is unaffected.

State income tax structure: Flat single rate (reformed from progressive in recent years)

Verify with your CPA. State tax conformity for federal §168(k) is adjusted frequently. Framing reflects our understanding as of May 2026, verify current-year treatment with a qualified tax professional.

Methodology

Every figure on this page is reproducible. The pipeline:

  1. Fixture definition. 5 Savannah-area properties defined in cities/savannah.json under the engine_fixtures array, each with address, property type, purchase price, year built, square footage, and STR/LTR flag.
  2. Engine run. The script scripts/run_city_stats.py instantiates a PropertyInput for each fixture and calls engine.run_study(), the same path that produces a real customer study.
  3. Base costs. RSMeans 2024 construction-cost data by component category, applied as base-rate per square foot.
  4. Time index. BLS Producer Price Index (Construction Materials series WPUFD49207) adjusts RSMeans 2024 dollars to acquisition-date dollars.
  5. Geographic factor. Six-tier resolver: pinned metros → calibrated → manual → state → region → national default.
  6. Land allocation. County assessor records when reliability gate passes; statistical fallback (metro → state → national medians) otherwise. Premium floor applies when reconciliation factor (rf_raw) exceeds 2.0.
  7. MACRS classification. IRS Pub. 946 + Rev. Proc. 87-56 asset class lives, 5-year (personal property), 7-year (office equipment), 15-year (land improvements), 27.5-year (residential structure), 39-year (commercial structure).
  8. Bonus depreciation. 100%, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA, signed July 2025) permanently restored 100% bonus for property placed in service in 2025 and later.
  9. Federal tax savings illustration. Computed at the 37% top marginal bracket. Actual savings vary by taxpayer; consult your CPA.

For full methodology details including QC validation, reconciliation logic, and audit-defense documentation, see costsegsmart.com/methodology.

Citation

This dataset is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may republish, remix, or extend this data for any purpose with attribution. Suggested citation format:

Cost Seg Smart Research Team. (2026). "Savannah, GA Cost Segregation Benchmarks 2026." Cost Seg Smart. 5 representative fixtures.
Retrieved from https://savannahcostseg.com/data/savannah-cost-seg-stats/

For interview requests, additional data slices, or related questions: [email protected].

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