PRICED OUT OF JAX: NE Florida housing market ‘cooling’ as interest rate hikes affect mortgage rate

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville’s red-hot housing market has cooled in recent weeks.

Redfin data shows the city is fifth in the nation, with a quarter of pending home sales falling out of contract. The metro comes in after Port St. Lucie, Cape Coral, Lakeland and Las Vegas, Nevada.

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“People are freaked out. Buying a house for three, four-hundred thousand at 3% versus 7% if you’re getting a mortgage, your payments are double now. So, it’s like a lot of people are having to pause,” realtor Mike Boyle said.

Boyle says high mortgages are driven by the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates in an attempt to quell inflation.

“With inflation being what it is, they have to raise the interest rates,” he added.

If anything, Boyle says it is cooling the housing market.

Read: Jacksonville ranks 6th most dangerous city in America for pedestrians

At the peak of Northeast Florida’s housing frenzy, prices of homes skyrocketed because there were few on the market — only around 2,000 instead of the usual 10,000, Boyle says. Now, Boyle says that number has crept up to around 5,000.

“We need to get back to that 10,000 inventory because that’s when everything stabilizes, people stop raising the prices,” Boyle added.

The Fed is planning another interest rate hike later this summer, raising the likelihood that more mortgage rate increases will follow.

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