Credit: Wade Austin Ellis on Unsplash
60 Minutes gave Jacksonville’s hot housing market a national spotlight during a recent segment when Leslie Stahl interviewed two locals whose landlord increased their rent by 30% this year, on account of market conditions. Their story is typical for renters in Jacksonville, who on average saw rents increase by 31% over the past year. That’s more than double the national average of 15%, which is itself double the overall rate of inflation, which, if you haven’t noticed, is at its highest rate in 40 years.
Later in the piece, Ms. Stahl interviews the CEO of Tricon Residential in front of a home they bought on Shiner Drive in Jacksonville’s northside. Soaring rents are good business for landlords. So good, in fact, that big Wall Street firms like Tricon want in on the action and have been scooping up single-family homes as soon as they hit the market to turn into rentals. These types of conversions comprise some 30% of new home purchases in places like Jacksonville.
Is Wall Street to blame for the recent spike in rent? Yes, but maybe not for the reason you think. Redfin’s chief economist Daryl Fairweather explains in an interview:
The best way to reduce housing costs is to build more housing. Thankfully, in places like Jacksonville, builders are working hard to solve this crisis—new apartment construction is projected to hit a 30-year high this year.
Credit: Dede Smith / Jax Daily Record
What happens when 80% of your revenue comes from one client, then that client goes away? Our CEO Steve Williams talked to Drew Dixon of the Jax Daily Record about what it was like to rapidly diversify our client and business base after a 25-year relationship with 7-Eleven.
This guy clearly has a background in engineering and/or fabrication.