Rents are rising quickly in Jacksonville, but the price is still a bargain compared with other areas.
Published on March 25, 2024 at 12:14 pm
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Rents are rising faster in Jacksonville than they are in most U.S. cities, new data shows.
The asking price for an apartment in Jacksonville rose 8.2% in the past year, the sixth-largest increase among 50 cities nationwide, according to a study by rent.com, an online rental marketplace.
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The rent in Jacksonville rose even as other areas in Florida experienced declines. Florida was once of 10 states nationally where rent declined from February 2023 to last month.
Asking rents declined 1.46% in Tampa and 2.03% in South Florida. Rents in Orlando rose 6.59%.
Rents are rising partly because home purchases have become more expensive. The median price of a home in Northeast Florida rose to $385,000 in February, up 6.1% from the year before, according to the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors.
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Inflation and higher interest rates also have contributed to rising rent.
Nationally, asking rents rose the most in over a year — 2.5%. The increase in February marked the first time rents had risen more than 2 pecentage points since January 2023, the rent.com study said.
But Jacksonville remains lower priced than many cities, according to rent.com. The median price for an apartment here was $1,781 in February — $200 less than the national average.
Jacksonville also has the lowest rents among Florida's biggest cities. A new lease cost $2,157 a month in Tampa, $2,221 in Orlando and $3,011 in South Florida.
A recent study at Florida Atlantic University found that rents in Jacksonville are actually 0.44% lower than you would expect based on historical trends. That placed Jacksonville as the 17th best deal in the country out of 100 cities — and the only city in Florida considered a "bargain."
The study — by FAU, Florida Gulf Coast University and the University of Alabama — said the rental crisis nationwide has begun to ease as developers have built more rental units.
Randy comes to Jacksonville from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, where as metro editor, he led investigative coverage of the Parkland school shooting that won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for public service. He has spent more than 40 years in reporting and editing positions in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio and Florida.
