Jacksonville #4 On Healthiest Home Markets List!
A recent article from BuilderOnline.com listed the mid-2011 update the country’s healthiest home markets and we’re proud that Jacksonville had made the list! Not only that, but BuilderOnline.com wisely chose to use one of our homes as their photo to illustrate the article – thanks BuilderOnline!
Here’s what they had to say about Jacksonville:
Seeing a Florida market so high on our list of healthy markets may be a surprise to some. But the city’s strong employment base has helped it come back before many of the services-dependent housing markets to the south. A strong military presence has always anchored the economy. But a growing financial services sector has added employment in recent years. Employment is expected to rise 3.2% next year. Median income is projected to rise 3.3%.
Thanks to job growth and a diminished supply of foreclosures, home prices have stabilized; they are slated to rise nearly 5% next year. It helps matters that Duval County, home to Jacksonville, has the highest average annual wages in Florida, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. In 2009, wages stood at $58,505.
Builders and developers must sense the market is poised to recover. They have pulled 28% more permits through the first half of this year than last. Moody’s expects that growth to accelerate in 2012, with permit activity nearly doubling. Roughly 70% of the action is in single-family housing.