BEN GRAY / Staff Stephen Townsend, a teacher and AirTran Airways worker, bought his house in Davidson Landing in Henry County six months ago.   Related: COMPARE PRICES BY ZIP CODE • Complete Home Report 2004

The Atlanta Regional Commission has deemed Clayton, in combination with nearby Henry, Fayette and Butts counties south of Atlanta a home buyers' paradise.

Emory Brock, director of economic development for Clayton County, agrees that "the huge supply of housing in Clayton County, and the surge in new growth in Henry and Fayette, creates an atmosphere considered friendly and convenient, especially for first-time home buyers."

Besides, said Brock, "it's now easier to commute into downtown Atlanta from the Southside, even as far out as Butts or Lamar counties, than it is from Roswell or Alpharetta."

Coupled with the county's low tax rates and less expensive utilities, "home buyers usually get a lot more house for their money in Clayton," Brock added. Older families are moving out, while families with children are moving in, giving Clayton the "youngest median resident age of any county in all the metro area," he said.

The AJC 2004 Home Sales report shows that the median price for housing in Clayton, old or new, rose by more than 5 percent last year, to $126,350, according to data provided by Smart Numbers.

Realtor Leslie Edwards says single-family homes in good condition usually sell within about 100 days of listing, even though Clayton County's available housing market is larger than other counties' home supplies.

Edwards has Re/Max Advantage offices in Clayton, Fayette, Henry and Butts counties.

However, she pointed out, "There are a lot of new homes sitting finished and waiting."

In the past 12 months, just 53 percent of real estate listings were sold, she added. Forty-seven percent unsold, Edwards said, "is huge. It means the market looks better than it actually is."

The president of Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity, Edwards said she also has seen a marked increase in the number of home buyers who are single women.

One of them is Leitha Cox of Rex, a nurse at Georgia Cancer Specialists in Atlanta.

"I looked around for a couple of years for what I wanted," said Cox. She expects to close this month on her new four-bedroom home.

"I am very excited about owning a home for the first time. And I will have enough room for my daughters and grandchildren to enjoy the house with me," said Cox.

Edwards confirms Cox's assessment that many, many people are looking for housing closer to where their grandchildren are living.

But some buyers are like Henry County resident Stephen Townsend, 34, a single special education teacher for third-graders who doubles as a ramp supervisor for AirTran Airways.

"It's quiet here," Townsend said of his Davidson Landing subdivision. "I had lived in the Jonesboro area off Tara Boulevard before, and the traffic was crazy. Now everything I need is nearby off Ga. 138."

Davidson Landing is a 72-house subdivision of one- and two-story, three- and four-bedroom homes , ranging from $132,000 to $150,000. Andrea Everson, a real estate agent for GT Communities, has sought to make the homes more affordable, allowing potential home buyers the option to forgo immediate down payments by adding initial costs, normally $3,000 to $5,000, into mortgage payments.