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Rent increases in Jacksonville are among the nation's worst

Rents are skyrocketing in greater Jacksonville.
Rich Pedroncelli
/
AP
Rents are skyrocketing in greater Jacksonville.

Rents are rising faster in Jacksonville than most places in the U.S. — even faster than the price of a mortgage, new data shows.

Average rent in metro Jacksonville jumped 31.5% over the past year, the ninth-biggest increase of 50 metro areas, the Redfin real estate company reported. The average cost of a mortgage rose 25.3%.

The rent increase here was more than twice the average for the U.S. as a whole, Redfin said. And the situation isn't likely to improve in the coming year.

“The growth in mortgage payments has been driven by both climbing prices and climbing mortgage rates,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “And those rising mortgage costs push more potential homebuyers into renting instead, which pushes up demand and prices for rentals. Mortgage rate increases are accelerating, which will cause both mortgage payments and rent to grow throughout 2022.”

The Redfin analysis is based on real estate listings, rental offers and property sales records. The data represents the costs to a new renter or homebuyer, not all costs across the market.

Redfin pegs the average rent in Jacksonville at $1,625 per month, which, despite the increase, was still a bargain compared with most cities. Only nine metro areas had smaller rents on average, and only one of those (San Antonio, Texas) is in a warm-weather state.

Jacksonville's rent fell far below other parts of Florida: Miami at $3,020, Orlando at $2,050 and Tampa at $2,076).

Indianapolis was the cheapest in the nation at $1,280 per month — up only 9.1% from the year before. Metro New would cost you the most: $3,718. Rent there increased 34.5% on the year.

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. You can reach Randy at rroguski@wjct.org or on Twitter, @rroguski.