New Home Construction in Jacksonville in 2026

Jacksonville-Duval County authorized 2,799 new single-family homes from January through August 2026, already more than three quarters of the 3,611 permitted in all of 2025 but far below the 5,037 of 2024.

Those counts come from the Census Bureau survey of local permit offices, which files the consolidated city under the name Jacksonville-Duval County. The 2026 single-family permits through August carry a construction value of $575,797,692 (U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2026 year to date). In 2025 the same Jacksonville office authorized 3,611 single-family homes valued at $654,307,265 (Building Permits Survey, 2025), and in 2024 it authorized 5,037 valued at $1,044,104,954 (Building Permits Survey, 2024). That is a drop of about 28% in Jacksonville house permits from 2024 to 2025.

Apartments moved the other way. Jacksonville permitted 19 buildings of five or more units with 1,131 apartments in 2024, then 69 such buildings with 2,253 units in 2025, and 35 buildings with 1,700 units in the first eight months of 2026 (same Census Bureau files).

Dividing the permit value by the number of homes gives an average construction value of about $205,716 per Jacksonville single-family permit in 2026 to August, about $181,198 in 2025 and about $207,287 in 2024. The Census Bureau defines that valuation as the estimated value of the residential structure as shown on the building permit (Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey definitions), so it is not a sale price and does not include the lot.

St. Johns County Unincorporated Area, which borders Jacksonville to the south, permitted 2,054 single-family homes through August 2026, close to the Jacksonville total but at a higher average value.

The St. Johns County Unincorporated Area permits through August 2026 carry a value of $572,260,830, about $278,608 per home, against about $205,716 in Jacksonville (Building Permits Survey, 2026 year to date). St. Johns County Unincorporated Area permitted 3,471 single-family homes in 2025 (Building Permits Survey, 2025) and 4,836 in 2024 (Building Permits Survey, 2024), so house permits south of the Duval County line fell between 2024 and 2025 just as Jacksonville's did (the 2025 St. Johns file shows 11 of 12 months reported, with 3,138 homes reported and the rest imputed), and through August 2026 they stand at about 59% of the 2025 total, against about 78% in Jacksonville. The Nocatee real estate 2026 guide covers Nocatee, on that side of the line.

The Jacksonville-Duval County figures leave out four Duval County municipalities that the Census Bureau lists as separate permit-issuing places. Through August 2026 the Census Bureau lists 48 single-family permits for Jacksonville Beach, 20 for Atlantic Beach, 17 for Neptune Beach and 4 for Baldwin town. Those are estimates with imputation: the file shows Jacksonville Beach reporting 4 of the 8 months (22 homes reported) and Baldwin town none, and the survey fills missing months by imputation (Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey definitions). To the west and north, Clay County Unincorporated Area authorized 808 single-family homes and Nassau County Unincorporated Area 515 in the same eight months (same 2026 file; Nassau reported 6 of the 8 months, 382 homes reported).

New houses in Jacksonville go through the City of Jacksonville Building Inspection Division, which enforces the Florida Building Code and the city's building ordinances, and every permit type must now be submitted online through JaxEPICS.

The Building Inspection Division is on the 2nd floor of the Ed Ball Building, 214 North Hogan Street, Jacksonville 32202, open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed most federal holidays; the phone is 904-255-8500 (City of Jacksonville Building Inspection Division). Online submission is required for all permit types, and a JaxEPICS account is needed to submit. The division's site also carries a Contractor License and Complaint Search.

The Jacksonville division says the code in effect is the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), and that documents for permits submitted on or after January 1, 2024 must reference and comply with it. The Florida Building Commission gives the effective date of the 8th Edition as December 31, 2023, and posts materials related to the 2026 update of the code (Florida Building Commission).

Two one-time public charges apply to new Jacksonville homes unless an exemption applies: the City of Jacksonville Mobility Fee for transportation, paid to obtain vertical construction permits, and JEA capacity charges, paid before the first water and sewer connection.

The Mobility Fee is a type of impact fee for the transportation effects of new development, and it runs as a pay and go system: no Jacksonville development is denied for lack of road capacity, but the fee must be paid to obtain vertical construction permits (City of Jacksonville Concurrency and Mobility Management System Office). The city's online calculator gives only an informal, non-binding estimate; a formal application produces a certified fee and a calculation certificate. Payment is made in person or by mail at the Duval Tax Collector's Office in the Ed Ball Building, and that office does not take payments over the phone or online. Section 655.109 of the Ordinance Code lists the developments exempt from the fee.

JEA requires its plant and line extension Growth Capacity Charges before the first connection to its water and wastewater systems (JEA Capacity Fee Calculator). Since April 1, 2023, JEA has charged $4.68 per gallon of average daily water use and $25.57 per gallon of average daily sewer flow, or a base fee by meter size, whichever is greater.

For a Jacksonville house with one 3/4 inch meter, no separate irrigation meter and sewer, the two JEA base fees add up to $6,284. JEA says to compare the per-gallon cost of the daily flow with the base fee and enter whichever is greater on the meter application.

A new Jacksonville home is assessed as it stands on January 1, and a house not substantially completed on that date is taxed only as land for that year.

Florida Statutes section 192.042 sets January 1 as the assessment date for real property and says improvements not substantially completed on January 1 get no value; substantially completed means the house, or a self-sufficient unit in it, can be used for its purpose (Florida Statutes 192.042). Under that rule, a Jacksonville house that was not yet substantially completed on January 1, 2026 has no improvement value placed on it for 2026, and its building is first valued on a later January 1.

Homestead follows occupancy. The Duval County Property Appraiser says owners who moved into a new home in Duval County after January 1, 2026 may now file for a 2027 homestead exemption online; the timely deadline for the 2027 tax roll is March 1, 2027, and late filing is permitted through early September (Duval County Property Appraiser). Paper filings go to the Customer Service/Exemptions Division at 231 E. Forsyth Street, Suite 260, and the office answers at 904-255-5900. The same Jacksonville page flags proposed 2026 Florida Property Tax Amendment 3 on the November 3 election ballot, which it says will alter the statutes governing homesteaded and non-homesteaded properties in Florida.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Duval County Property Appraiser and City of Jacksonville websites.

For a new Jacksonville house, Florida law gives 4 years for a construction claim, generally counted from the certificate of occupancy, with an outer limit of 7 years from that certificate for latent defects.

For a Jacksonville house, under the four-year limits in Florida Statutes section 95.11(3), the time for an action founded on the design, planning or construction of an improvement to real property runs from the date the authority having jurisdiction issues a temporary certificate of occupancy, a certificate of occupancy or a certificate of completion, whichever is earliest; a latent defect runs from when it was discovered or should have been discovered, but in any event the action must start within 7 years after that certificate date (Florida Statutes 95.11). If a newly built house was used as a model home, the time begins to run from the date a deed is first recorded transferring title to another party.