JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An apartment construction boom in Duval County is giving renters more options and better deals.
A new Zillow report found that in the Jacksonville metro area, 45.6% of rentals offered a concession in July. That’s compared to 27.8% a year ago. The typical asking rent is $1,769, up 0.8% from last year.
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Short-term perks include things like free weeks of rent or free parking, according to Zillow.
Here are some of the highlights from the report:
- More new multifamily units were completed in June than in any month in the past 50 years
- More than half of rentals are offering a concession in Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Nashville and Austin
- The rental vacancy rate held steady at 6.6%. The last time a higher share of rentals sat empty was the winter of 2021
“So this is finally a little bit of a breather, right? A little bit of relief for these renters are out there,” said Orphe Divounguy, Zillow Senior Economist.
Property managers are responding to the current market trend by offering concessions to attract tenants to fill empty units.
“The more construction we have, the more housing supply we have, the looser the market gets. You know, you end up with a higher vacancy rate, units stay on the market vacant for longer, and as that kind of unfolds, landlords and property managers begin to do whatever they can to try to fill those vacancies by offering concessions to tenants,” Divounguy said. “Renters have more bargaining power than they’ve had in the last four years.”
We asked News4JAX readers if they are noticing more concessions or incentives for renting locally.
“Back around the start of 2023 the offers were small, like 2 weeks free. Now? I’ve seen 2 *months* free PLUS a $1000K Visa gift card! Even 3 months free is now a thing!” Kristin Jackson said.