'Influx' of newcomers move to this waterfront MS Coast subdivision. Is it a sign of the future? (2025)

This story was first published by the Sun Herald. Read more here.

Often when Glynn Illich’s phone rings, it’s another call from Louisiana. He keeps hearing familiar laments about weariness with city life. And everyone is asking a question: What about moving to the Mississippi Coast?

“It’s beautiful,” said Illich, a local developer, standing on the back porch of a gleaming new Pass Christian property.

“Look at this. It’s $400,000. Any other place in the country, this is $800,000. And it’s quiet as a church mouse out here.”

Growth is surging in the city’s sprawling Timber Ridge subdivision, where Illich has built homes since Hurricane Katrina.

The neighborhood also reflects how the coast is changing. The population here is rising faster than most parts of the state, and U.S.Census data shows Harrison County grew by about 5,000 people in the last four years. Newcomers are moving in from Louisiana and across the country.

“It’s a different way of life,” said Steve Scherrer, from Chicago, who just bought a house in Timber Ridge.

Now he sees out-of-state license plates all the time. Plush new subdivisions are emerging off old county roads. Billboards for custom new properties are advertising beside Interstate 10. Builders are racing to develop new businesses and enlarge roads to fit the area’s growing numbers.

People moving to Timber Ridge in Pass Christian

Developers say the migration is energizing the local economy. And Mississippi is about to eliminate its income tax. That could draw even more wealthy buyers eager to live in one of the last affordable beach communities in the country.

In Timber Ridge, new homes are still rising from lots of red dirt. There are about 1,100 properties so far, and some spots are still open in the back of the subdivision. But space on the million-dollar waterfront is running out.

“There’s construction going on everywhere,” said Meresa Morgan, president of the property owners association. She was born in Wiggins and returned from Houston five years ago, when the pandemic closed offices and suddenly she could work remotely. Now she is retired.

The biggest change in the neighborhood since she got there? “Just the influx,” she said, wheeling her polished Suburban through streets where purple and gold flags dominate the few flying for Ole Miss, and Jet Skis park beside golf carts in driveways.

She turns down another block of tall homes and wood beams that will soon hold more properties. “This is a new build,” Morgan said. She points to more. “This is a remodel. And somebody’s getting ready to build on that lot.”

Real estate agents say the new builds will keep selling.

“We’re getting all of these big-name companies that are about to be building and come here,” said Summer Newman, president of the Gulf Coast Association of Realtors. “It’s going to bring jobs. It’s going to bring people. We’re going to need more houses.”

Louisiana residents moving to MS Coast

The appeal is not entirely new. Families from Louisiana have long bought second homes on the coast for weekend getaways, and building started in Timber Ridge by the 1970s.

But the difference now is stark.

Almost two decades since Hurricane Katrina, the people who once vacationed here are returning to retire. New builds rise more than a dozen feet off the ground. Population since the pandemic has dropped in New Orleans and risen in all three of Mississippi’s coastal counties. Morgan said roughly 60% of people in Timber Ridge are now full-time residents.

Signs of Louisiana natives moving in are especially clear in Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian because they are just a short drive away.

But New Orleanians are also scrolling real estate websites for properties in Ocean Springs. More subdivisions are rising north of Interstate 10 where insurance costs are lower. People are coming from Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Some are still learning to say old French words with the right southern drawl and correctly pronounce Biloxi.

“If you are lucky enough to be able to work from home, and decide where it is you want to live, why would you want to live in a big city?” said Stephen Dinjar, who grew up in New Orleans, moved around the country and bought a house in Timber Ridge two years ago with his wife, Sheila.

“Why wouldn’t you go to a pretty little town like Pass Christian?” he wondered. “I see more and more people making the choice.”

Dizzying growth on Mississippi's coastline

Still, so much growth can be dizzying. The issue is dominating several local elections, and many candidates are vowing to preserve beloved neighborhoods from developers. An influx of wealthy out-of-staters who sometimes buy homes in cash has also raised prices.

Morgan said some longtime Timber Ridge residents “are not as fond of all the growth.” Others joke they wish leisure magazines that praise the coast as an undiscovered paradise would just keep quiet.

But the word is out already.

Scherrer discovered the local charm a few years back while exploring the Gulf Coast on his 48-foot boat. He worried about safety in Chicago and was tired of Illinois taxes.

“We liked the people,” he said. “We liked the area. We thought, 'OK, let’s buy a house down here and we’ll move.' So that’s what we did.”

Real estate agents and developers say demand has calmed slightly this year because of insurance costs and interest rates.

The coast’s growth is steady but not as explosive as some parts of Florida and Texas. It could still take years for Timber Ridge and other subdivisions to fill all the way.

But people keep coming.

Jerry and Joyce Pendleton also arrived two years ago from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They came from a ranch house and had never lived on pilings. But on vacation, once they veered off the interstate when they saw the sign for beaches, and they were hooked.

“We wanted to go back to a small town,” Joyce Pendleton said. “People thought we were kind of crazy.”

Now they wave at neighbors passing on golf carts and have even attended some board of aldermen’s meetings. Jerry Pendleton is starting to golf and wears a red Cruisin’ the Coast T-shirt. He explains it simply: “We’re really just beach people.”

Illich is still building about 20 properties a year and targeting Facebook advertising to Louisiana residents. He estimates he has built somewhere between 300 and 350 houses over the years.

Most have been bought by out-of-state retirees and empty-nesters. He locked up another spotless new home one recent morning and looked down the street. Three lots were empty except for some trees near the property line.

But soon more homes will rise there. People keep calling.

“I’ll have this whole area built,” he said. “I’m working on the plans right now.”