In Northeast Florida, Resale Homes Are Competing Against New Construction on Terms They Didn't Set

Written by:

Alejandra Rodriguez

Date:

31 Jul 2026

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Northeast Florida’s housing market carries a four-month supply of inventory, a figure that, by conventional standards, still favors sellers. But within that tight market, a divide is forming between resale properties and new construction that is forcing existing homeowners to rethink how they position a listing. The issue is not a lack of demand. Builders are offering rate buydowns, closing cost assistance, and design center upgrades, incentives that resale sellers cannot easily match without changing their approach.

Christina Welch, Owner & Team Leader of the Welch Team at Keller Williams St. Johns, runs the largest residential team in northeast Florida with 12 selling agents and a commercial division launched in 2020 that accounts for roughly 30% of annual revenue. Her team closes approximately five homes per week across four counties, and the pattern she describes is consistent: resale properties that ignore the new construction landscape are the ones sitting longest on the market.

Builders Set the Baseline

New construction sales surged after 2020 in St. Johns County and surrounding areas, driven by population growth that brought an estimated 80% of Florida’s roughly one thousand daily new residents to the northeast corridor. That growth attracted large master-planned communities with amenity centers, fitness facilities, and activities directors, a format that many relocating buyers from outside Florida have never encountered at that scale.

Builders overbuilt for a stretch and have since pulled back, but their incentive structures remain aggressive. “Those incentives include lower interest rates, closing costs, upgrades within the design center,” Welch says. For resale sellers, this creates a pricing environment where the competition is not just the house down the street; it is a new home offering financial terms that effectively lower a buyer’s total cost of ownership.

Concessions Over Price Cuts

Welch’s observation is that sellers who price well from the start are relying on concessions rather than price reductions to stay competitive. The distinction matters: a price reduction signals mispricing and can erode a listing’s perceived value online, while a concession – closing cost assistance, a rate buydown, keeps the headline number intact while addressing the buyer’s concern about monthly payment.

“We’re seeing more concessions happening, less price reductions, as long as the homes are priced well,” Welch says. The listings that linger share two traits: they are priced too high relative to comparable new construction, and they do not show in competitive condition. “Those are huge factors when it comes to selling a property that people, for some reason or another, don’t really take into consideration before they actually put the property on the market.”

She also notes a category of seller who entered the market without genuine motivation: testing whether they could extract a price without a real need to move. “Those people are expiring their properties currently,” she says, adding that a wave of expired listings at the end of last year contributed to a brief leveling-off in activity.

Buyers Are Adjusting Slowly

On the demand side, buyers are still recalibrating expectations around interest rates. Welch reports that many buyers entered 2026 hoping for a return to pandemic-era rates, and that acceptance of current conditions has been gradual.

“I think that everybody still wants a 3% interest rate, and it’s not going to ever hit again, in my opinion,” Welch says. “The new norm is they’re coming to realization that 6% is the new normal.”

Despite that caution, the market continues to produce multiple-offer situations on well-positioned listings. Welch reports multiple offers on several properties in the past week alone and notes that pricing in the region is trending upward at roughly 5% annually.

Foreclosure Fears Are Overstated Locally

One national narrative that does not track locally: the expectation of rising distressed inventory. Foreclosures and short sales represent only 1.5% of total closings in northeast Florida, according to Welch, a figure she considers negligible relative to the concern it generates in national commentary.

The segment she watches more closely is condos in buildings over three stories, which face reserve-funding requirements under legislation passed several years ago. “We just want to make sure that our customer, whoever purchases in a community that does have the three stories or more, there’s enough reserves if something were to take place,” she says. Welch’s team raises this issue early with buyers so there are no surprises once a property is under contract.

What Resale Sellers Need to Know

For resale sellers in this market, condition and pricing strategy are not optional advantages; they are requirements for competing against new construction that comes with built-in financial incentives. Sellers who treat their listing as if it exists in isolation, ignoring what builders two miles away are offering, are the ones watching their days on market climb.

“You have to look at what things have been selling for and what things are listing for and make sure that your house is in decent shape to compete with them,” Welch says.

The resale sellers best positioned to succeed are those who acknowledge the competitive landscape from day one: pricing against comparable new construction, presenting the home in move-in condition, and using concessions strategically to address the financing gap that builders have already closed for their buyers.

About the Expert: Christina Welch is Owner and Team Leader of the Welch Team at Keller Williams St. Johns, leading the largest residential team in northeast Florida with 12 selling agents and a commercial division, closing approximately five homes per week across four counties.

This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.