Why is homeownership in Jacksonville becoming harder to afford?

Why Jacksonville families feel the squeeze

For working families in Jacksonville, the math of homeownership has shifted sharply in the wrong direction over the past five years. Florida's statewide median home price was $420,000 at the end of 2024, surpassing the national median for the first time.^[1] Coastal markets like Jacksonville saw some of the steepest cumulative insurance premium increases in the state.^[2] And the 30-year fixed mortgage rate has hovered in the mid to low 6 percent range, well above pandemic-era levels.^[5]

Put those three together. The monthly payment goes up sharply. But the deeper problem in Jacksonville is what happens after you close. Property taxes reset at full market value the moment you buy, because Florida's Save Our Homes cap only protects homesteaded properties from more than a 3 percent annual increase.^[3] Your neighbor who has owned the same house for 15 years may be paying half the property tax you pay on an identical home. And your homeowner insurance bill, in one of the nation's costliest markets for coverage, adds hundreds of dollars per month on top of the mortgage.^[2]

The insurance problem is structural

Jacksonville families ask the same question homeowners are asking across Florida: why is insurance so expensive? The answer is that every private insurer in Florida prices hurricane risk into every policy. Because each carrier holds relatively thin capital reserves against potential hurricane losses, they add large risk margins on top of the actuarial cost. Multiple national carriers pulled out of Florida entirely between 2021 and 2024, citing hurricane-loss volatility and reinsurance costs.^[6] Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state insurer of last resort, peaked at about 1.4 million policies in 2023 before depopulation programs began moving policies back to private insurers.^[7]

The structural fix is a state catastrophic fund that removes hurricane coverage from the private market entirely. David Jolly fought for a national catastrophic fund during his time in Congress. As governor, he will introduce legislation on day one to expand the existing Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund to fully absorb hurricane and wind coverage, removing it from private carriers and reducing homeowner insurance premiums by 60 to 70 percent.^[4] For a Jacksonville family paying $5,000 or more per year in insurance, that reduction delivers $3,000 or more per year in savings. Real money. Real relief.

Property taxes concentrate the burden on new buyers

Florida's Save Our Homes cap locks homesteaded properties at a maximum 3 percent annual assessed-value increase (or the change in CPI, whichever is lower).^[3] That means a homeowner who has lived in the same house since 2005 pays property tax on a dramatically lower assessed value than a family that buys the same model home next door in 2026. The cap resets when the property is sold, so new buyers start at full market value. The result: working families in Jacksonville buying their first home often pay double or triple the annual property tax of a neighbor who has owned for 15 years.

This is the invisible squeeze that doesn't show up in the Zillow listing. The mortgage calculator shows you principal and interest. It estimates insurance and property taxes. But it can't tell you that the property tax estimate is based on a capped assessment that doesn't apply to you. You find out when you get the bill. David Jolly has proposed targeted relief for first-time buyers: a scaled homestead exemption up to $250,000 for qualifying households, with additional $50,000 to $100,000 exemptions for seniors and first responders. And he has called for a three-year pause on property tax increases statewide while Florida works through the economic crisis.^[8]

The plan for Jacksonville homeowners

Across Jacksonville, people are saying the same thing: hard work should be enough. Right now, for too many people, it isn't. The candidate's plan for Jacksonville homeowners starts with the catastrophic fund to deliver insurance savings, moves to property tax relief through first-time buyer exemptions and a three-year pause on increases, and adds a utility profit cap to reduce monthly bills.^[4][8]

These solutions are within reach right now. The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund has existed since 1993, with a balance of $7.12 billion as of the end of 2024.^[9] Utility rate regulation by public service commissions has existed in every state for over a century. And property tax relief for first-time buyers has been successfully piloted in states and cities across the country. The barrier isn't the math. The barrier is political will. David Jolly's message to Jacksonville families: this is a fight worth having, and it's a fight we can win.