{"id":998770,"date":"2026-08-13T19:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/998770\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T19:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:56:15","slug":"new-construction-homes-in-northeast-florida-now-selling-for-about-the-same-price-as-existing-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/998770\/","title":{"rendered":"New construction homes in Northeast Florida now selling for about the same price as existing homes"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 For years, buying a brand-new home in Northeast Florida typically came with a premium over an existing home.<\/p>\n

New data<\/a> suggests that gap has nearly disappeared and in some cases, new construction is now selling for less per square foot.<\/p>\n

Click here for more Addressing A4dability coverage.<\/a><\/p>\n

A 25-year analysis of local home sales by Jon Brooks, a market analyst and the co-founder of Momentum Realty, found the price-per-square-foot gap between new and existing homes has narrowed dramatically.<\/p>\n

In 2011, new homes sold for about 39% more per square foot than existing homes.<\/p>\n

By 2024, that premium had fallen to 2.4%. In 2025, it was just 0.3%.<\/p>\n

Graphic depicting vanishing new-home premium costs<\/p>\n

So far in 2026, new homes are selling for slightly less per square foot than existing homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, new construction has a 15 to 20% premium over existing homes,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cSo from a historical standpoint, what we\u2019re seeing right now is very different than what we were normally used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks said the shift is partly the result of existing home prices rising rapidly in recent years, while builders have increasingly competed for buyers by cutting prices and offering incentives.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest incentives is financing.<\/p>\n

Many builders are offering mortgage rate buy-downs that can push buyers\u2019 interest rates below prevailing market rates, reducing monthly payments.<\/p>\n

Brooks said some builders are also cutting the purchase price to make deals work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe builders are willing to not only give the concession on the mortgage, but also cut the price of the house to make deals work with buyers,\u201d Brooks said.<\/p>\n

Jon Brooks, a market analyst and the co-founder of Momentum Realty, speaks with News4JAX consumer investigative reporter Tiffany Salameh. (Ciara Earrey\/News4JAX)<\/p>\n

Those incentives can make the total cost of a new home more competitive with an existing home, even when the advertised price may initially appear higher.<\/p>\n

The shift also comes as new construction has taken a larger share of local home sales.<\/p>\n

According to Brooks\u2019 analysis, new construction accounted for about 13% of sales in 2021, a 20-year low. By 2024, that share had climbed to 27%, the highest level in the 25-year data set.<\/p>\n

Brooks said builders have been forced to compete more aggressively as the Northeast Florida housing market has added significant amounts of new inventory.<\/p>\n

Some builders have accepted lower profit margins to keep homes moving.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them are losing money,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cThe majority of them, their margins are much less than what they\u2019re used to getting.\u201d<\/p>\n

For buyers focused on affordability, Brooks said the data is a reason not to automatically rule out new construction.<\/p>\n

Many builders are offering mortgage rate buy-downs that can push buyers\u2019 interest rates below prevailing market rates, reducing monthly payments. (Ciara Earrey\/News4JAX)<\/p>\n

Instead, he recommends comparing the total cost of buying new versus existing, including mortgage rates, builder incentives, closing costs and other concessions.<\/p>\n

The trend could also put additional pressure on sellers of existing homes.<\/p>\n

Brooks said that in areas where there has been a major construction boom, increased competition from new homes could force existing-home sellers to lower prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think times are changing,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cWe could see prices actually come down further moving forward now that the ratios have flipped.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 For years, buying a brand-new home in Northeast Florida typically came with a premium over…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":998771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[16547,29397,852,5229,2436,3188,723,8166,7310,6459,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-998770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-addressing-a4dability","tag-addressing-affordability","tag-affordable-housing","tag-america","tag-consumer","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-housing-market","tag-jacksonville","tag-money","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117089965486127923","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/998771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}