Jacksonville, FL

Jacksonville’s current Zillow measures set a straightforward screen: ZHVI typical home value is $287,871 and ZORI typical observed market rent is $1,600 monthly. Their implied gross yield is 6.7%, before maintenance, management, vacancy, insurance, taxes, financing and capital work. The home value equals 4.12x ACS median household income, while annual ZORI equals 27.5% of that income, so affordability must be tested against actual tenant incomes and lease terms.

The city has 430,825 housing units, of which 394,370 are occupied; the citywide vacancy rate is 8.5%, and renters occupy 42.4% of occupied units. These figures show meaningful rental tenure but do not establish demand for a specific property. ACS surveyed occupied housing reports a $293,700 median home value and $1,465 median gross rent, the latter including selected utilities. Those ACS measures have different concepts and periods from Zillow’s typical value and observed market rent, so they should not be averaged or treated as direct comparables.

City rent-burden context is substantial: 56.6% of renters for whom burden is calculated spend at least 30% of income on gross rent. Single-family units are 64.3% of city housing stock, while large multifamily units are 11.6%. Of vacant units, 39.5% are classified for rent; this is a vacancy-reason share, not available investment inventory. Population increased 9.8% between overlapping ACS vintages; that change is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $69,872, with city unemployment at 4.6% and poverty at 14.5%. These labor and income measures describe demand constraints but neither establish causation nor predict property-level leasing.

Duval County listings had a median 57-day market time, and 24.4% were price-reduced, indicating room to test seller expectations at the county scope. The broader Jacksonville metro had 3.8 months of supply and price drops on 31.8% of listings, while metro payroll jobs fell 0.4% year over year; together, these metro facts argue for conservative absorption assumptions. The national Freddie Mac mortgage rate was 6.58%, a financing benchmark rather than a Jacksonville borrower quote.

The central limitation is scope: citywide aggregates cannot price, inspect or insure a particular asset, and county, metro and national context uses different denominators and periods. Gross yield excludes every operating and capital cost, while observed rent does not guarantee achieved rent. Before underwriting, verify address-specific lease and sale comparables, current taxes, insurance and hazard terms, utilities, association rules and fees, physical condition, permits, title, management, vacancy and turnover assumptions, planned capital work, and actual loan pricing.