After a post-pandemic surge, home building leaders in Northeast Florida say 2026 is returning to more typical market conditions. Scott Brannock, incoming president of the Northeast Florida Builders Association and president of Tidewater Homes, said the focus is shifting from rapid expansion to workforce training and policy improvements. The change comes after a year of slower price growth and a decline in new-home permits, giving buyers more negotiating leverage.
Brannock laid out those priorities on This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition, where he walked through NEFBA’s role and called workforce development his top goal for 2026. The interview was posted by News4JAX.
Market snapshot
Inventory climbed and prices cooled through 2025, and local real‑estate leaders say the region is settling back to earth after several frothy years. In December 2025 the median home price across the six‑county area was about $397,000, a slight dip from the year before, while single‑family permits fell nearly 30% from 12,551 in 2024 to 8,828 in 2025, the lowest level since 2016. Those shifts kept houses on the market longer and gave buyers more negotiating leverage, according to Jax Daily Record.
Rates and demand
Fannie Mae’s economic outlook projects 30‑year fixed mortgage rates in the low‑6% range next year, which could ease borrowing costs and coax some would‑be buyers back into the hunt. That potential rate relief, paired with higher inventory, helps explain why builders are describing 2026 as a more "normal" year for Northeast Florida housing, per Fannie Mae.
Workforce development steps up
Builders say they cannot speed up construction without more trained tradespeople, so NEFBA is doubling down on apprenticeships and training. The association has expanded its apprenticeship program and purchased a 43,000‑square‑foot building at 4932 Sunbeam Road to house a Workforce Development Center with classrooms and labs, an effort that has drawn state and local support, according to CareerSource Northeast Florida. Industry partners including Haskell have pledged funding to help equip the facility and grow training capacity, and the company describes the move as part of a broader push to expand construction‑trade education in the region, according to Haskell.
Barriers remain
Even with cooling prices, builders point to tariffs, rising labor costs and local impact fees as major headwinds, and industry analysis suggests regulation can add roughly a quarter to the price of a new home, as summarized by JLC. Local builders told Jax Daily Record that those pressures, combined with community pushback on several large proposals, helped push permitting to the lowest level in nearly a decade. "I personally hope to see more smart growth, rather than large communities," Brannock told the paper, urging builders to address neighborhood concerns earlier in the planning process.
What to watch
Permit filings, contested rezoning votes and progress at the NEFBA Workforce Development Center at 4932 Sunbeam Road will be the clearest near‑term signals of whether training and policy changes turn into more homes. Scott Brannock, who runs Tidewater Homes and will serve as NEFBA president, says smaller, smarter projects plus a stronger trades pipeline are the most realistic path to increasing attainable housing this year, per Tidewater Homes.
