From April to June, 1,849 new homes were sold in the district, surpassing Liberty Hill ISD with 1,714 homes sold. Hays CISD continued to have the highest number of home sales at 3,683.
Despite seeing a decrease in its overall enrollment projections from the beginning of the year, GISD “will continue to grow for many, many years” due to an abundance of undeveloped land in the area, Zonda Demographics adviser Stuart Keogh said at an Aug. 18 board meeting.
Zooming in
The Wolf Ranch area saw the most housing growth from April to June, Keogh said. Additionally, much development was underway near Ford and San Gabriel elementaries, as well as near Mitchell and Williams elementaries, he said.
Three of the district's top performing subdivisions for home sales were in the Wolf Ranch area, including Parkside on the River, Wolf Ranch and South Fork, and Retreat at San Gabriel. Other top performing subdivisions included Santa Rita Ranch and Tierra Rosa alongside Parmer Ranch in the northwest portion of the district.
“Wolf Ranch is going to continue to be a very active area for the next few years,” Keogh said.
Across the district, there were:
- 51 actively building subdivisions
- 27 future subdivisions being planned
- 3,600 lots receiving groundwork within 20 of these subdivisions
Zooming out
Demographers took a “very conservative approach” to GISD’s enrollment projects “due to the changing factors within public education," Keogh said.
State lawmakers passed Senate Bill 2 this spring to set aside $1 billion for education savings accounts. Texas families can use this funding to pay for private school tuition and other educational expenses beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
GISD is expected to enroll an additional 6,000 students over the next decade—a decrease of nearly 400 students from the district’s quarter one demographic report from January to March. Despite this decline, enrollment is slightly higher than what Zonda Demographics staff would have expected, Keogh said.
“It’s going to be interesting to see what happens next year regarding some of the different policies passed by the Legislature this year,” Keogh said.
GISD is projected to enroll nearly 16,300 students by the 2029-30 school year and about 19,900 students by the 2034-35 school year.
Also of note
Multifamily housing in GISD fell below market rate due to low occupancy rates, Keogh said. The occupancy rate for multifamily units dropped to 82.9% with 53% of multifamily housing providers offering concessions, such as free rent for the first month, he said.
More than 2,600 future multifamily units are planned for the district, 85 of which are age-restricted, according to Zonda Demographics information. In 2025, 1,400 units have been completed so far.
The impact
Wolf Ranch Elementary, the district’s largest elementary school, is expected to exceed its capacity with 994 students in the 2025-26 school year.
Williams and Cooper elementaries are anticipated to exceed their capacities in the 2028-29 school year with 907 students and 725 students, respectively. Next school year, the district will open Elementary School No. 12 off Patriot Way and SH 130 with a capacity for 850 students.
East View and Georgetown high schools are also expected to be fully utilized in the coming school years but will be relieved by the opening of High School No. 4 in 2028. East View High School is projected to have 2,235 students this school year while Georgetown High School is anticipated to have 2,277 students by the 2030-31 school year.
Texas high schools must have 2,274 or less students to be classified as a 5A high school from 2024-26, according to the University Interscholastic League.
