Real estate brokerage company Redfin says the total value of homes in the U.S. has surged 13.4%, marking a $4 trillion increase during the pandemic, with Jacksonville leading the way.
The value of homes in the Jacksonville metropolitan area rose by 21.1% between February 2020 and February 2021, according to Redfin.
That represents an overall area increase in value of $28.9 billion, with the median sale price rising to $270,447. The median sales price, which is different than the total estimated value of homes in the metro area, rose 9.7%.
Redfin attributes a portion of the jump to remote workers who can relocate to other cities, as well as a low tax rate.
“A lot of cash buyers are coming to Jacksonville from big cities like L.A. to take advantage of lower taxes, and they’re offering sellers well over their asking prices. They’re discovering that they can afford a nice beach house here, when before they could only buy a modest condo,” said local Redfin real estate agent Heather Kruayai in a news release.
Kruayai added that in some cases locals are getting outbid because they can’t compete with the out-of-state money and “there just aren’t enough homes on the market.”
Austin, Charlotte, Phoenix and Sacramento were the other top 50 largest metro areas seeing the biggest value jumps. Redfin noted the top risers were all “relatively affordable, sunny destinations that have attracted an influx of wealthy homebuyers from dense, coastal cities.”
Zillow, another online realty company, issued a forecast in January predicting that the median home price in Jacksonville would increase another 6.8% this year.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
