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Business Brief: Baby Boomers, Millennials Behind NE Florida Apartment Boom

apartments
CBRE Group

An apartment complex on the Intracoastal Waterway sold for nearly $60 million dollars yesterday, making a huge profit for the owners who bought it just a year earlier. Jacksonville Business Journal Editor John Bur says the Seagrass Apartments sale is an example of the apartment boom happening in Northeast Florida.

“You’re going to see, probably—in fact you are seeing— not just existing apartment complexes trading hands, but people are now coming into the market and building apartments,” he says.

Burr says both Baby Boomers and millennials are flocking to apartments as they downsize from larger homes or move out of their parents’ houses. And people who would have bought starter homes in past decades are opting to put their money into rent instead—perhaps because they’re wary after the 2008 housing market bust.

Burr’s entire conversation with WJCT can be heard below and will air during Morning Edition on 89.9 FM on Monday.

Jessica Palombo supervises local news gathering and production, podcasts and web editorial content for WJCT News, ADAPT and Jacksonville Today. She is an award-winning writer and journalist with bylines including NPR, Experience Magazine, and The Gainesville Sun. She has a master’s degree in broadcast and digital journalism from Syracuse University and is an alumna of the University of Florida. A nearly lifelong resident of Jacksonville, she considers herself lucky to be raising her own children in her hometown. Follow Jessica Palombo on Twitter: @JaxJessicaP