By Jennifer White | Realtor, ReMax Specialists Ponte Vedra Beach
It is no secret that in the past few years Northeast Florida has seen unprecedented increased demand for real estate.
It has created a red-hot sellers’ market with unprecedented increases in property values across the board.
Northeast Florida is seeing buyers from all over the country as well as hedge funds and entities like Zillow buying hundreds of properties.
We are left wondering if we are in a bubble about to burst.
While a screeching halt won’t happen anytime soon, we are seeing fewer listings, a reduced number of offers for these listings and a slight increase in average days on the market compared with the past few years.
It is challenging to persuade would-be sellers to list their property. While they want to sell high, some hold back because they are going to have to, in turn, pay inflated prices to replace what they had.
Many of these homeowners are paying lower property taxes on their current homes than they would if they sold and bought another property.
Purchasing a new home in this market with the increasing interest rates and inflation can cost them money overall. That’s why they are sitting on inventory that agents typically would list.
Home prices remain high because there is limited inventory. Coupled with increasing interest rates and inflation, I foresee the market cooling down.
Higher interest rates weaken the buying power when it comes to purchasing the replacement home. But stepping back, mortgage interest rates historically are still relatively low, which is good for now.
In my opinion, there will be certain areas of the metro Jacksonville and St. Augustine markets that still have market frenzy but not as high as some of our coastal towns such as Ponte Vedra Beach and Atlantic, Neptune and Jacksonville Beaches.
This is especially true in Ponte Vedra Beach and Nocatee with the A-rated schools driving a good majority of those out-of-town buyers to those areas.
In Northwest St. Johns County, prices are increasing because of low inventory and the increasing costs to build a new house. Many are looking for the resale inventory rather than new construction.
In general, I still feel good about our location. Factors like the health care and professional sectors that are based here, our dynamic school systems, low cost of living, beach access and more.
And let’s face it, we are still relatively inexpensive compared with the rest of Florida or other coastal towns.
Jennifer White sold two of the Top 10 highest priced homes in 2021 for a combined total of $17.33 million.