In 2026, many Saint Johns buyers get their new-home discount at the closing table, and it never shows up in the sale price. When a builder pays $14,000 of a buyer's closing costs or buys down their mortgage rate, the sale still records at the full contract price. Every median-price report and every comp then treats the home as if it sold for full price. In Northeast Florida, that kind of credit is now more common on new homes than on resales. In St. Johns County, the recorded prices already put new construction below resale before any credit is counted.
The price order flipped in St. Johns County
Most buyers comparing a SilverLeaf or Shearwater new build with a resale in an established Saint Johns neighborhood start from an old rule: new costs more. For most of the past 25 years that held across Northeast Florida. A Momentum Research analysis of realMLS closed sales found that in 2011 new homes sold for about 39% more per square foot than existing homes. By 2024 the premium was 2.4%. In 2025 it was 0.3%, and in 2026 through July 10 it went slightly negative. Momentum Research is the research desk at Momentum Realty, Katie's brokerage. Its study covered seven counties, including St. Johns. When it compared new and existing homes in the same ZIP code, the premium still fell from about 33% in 2011 to low single digits.
A follow-up county-by-county breakdown shows St. Johns County going further than its neighbors. For single-family closings from January to August 2026:
| County | Median new-construction closing | Median resale closing |
|---|---|---|
| St. Johns | $550,000 | $585,000 |
| Nassau | $494,090 | $457,750 |
| Clay | $368,000 | $355,000 |
| Duval | $334,667 | $332,000 |
The analysis says plainly that these medians don't control for size, lot or location. A $550,000 builder home and a $585,000 resale may differ in square footage, lot depth or distance to the Buckman Bridge. What the table does show is where builder homes fall in each county's resale price range. In Clay and Duval, builder closings sit near the middle. In St. Johns, they sit below it.
Builder homes are still a large share of the market. New construction made up 28.9% of St. Johns County single-family closings in January to August 2026: 1,033 builder sales against 2,543 resales. That builder count was down 38% from the same months of 2024. So the lower builder median is not the result of a flood of new homes. Builders are closing fewer sales at prices below the resale median.
Why the real discount stays off the price
The recorded price explains only part of the gap. Builders have two ways to make a deal work. They can cut the price, or they can keep the price and pay some of the buyer's costs. The research behind the premium study notes that builders prefer the second option, because a lower recorded price would pull down the comps for the whole neighborhood, including the homes they haven't sold yet. Those credits, rate buydowns and closing costs paid on the buyer's behalf can reach about 10% of a deal. The contract price doesn't change.
Regional concession data shows how widespread this has become. Across the seven-county realMLS area, 43.1% of 2026 closings through mid-August recorded a seller concession, at a median of $9,150. In 2023, builders were the sellers least likely to pay buyer costs. In the second quarter of 2026, builders passed homeowners: 49.1% of new-construction closings carried a concession, against 42.4% of resales. The amounts are lopsided too. The median builder concession in 2026 is $14,456, about 4% of the close price. The median resale concession is $7,600, about 2.5%.
So a builder home that recorded at $550,000 may have come with a five-figure credit. The median-price table can't show that. Once you count the credits, the gap between new and resale in St. Johns County is likely wider than the $35,000 difference in recorded medians.
In August, News4JAX reported on this shift and quoted Momentum co-founder Jon Brooks on how builders are closing deals:
"The builders are willing to not only give the concession on the mortgage, but also cut the price of the house to make deals work with buyers."
The same News4JAX story reported Brooks saying that some builders are losing money and most are working on thinner margins than they are used to.
Higher rates make the buydown worth more
A rate buydown matters more when rates are high, and they rose this fall. The Associated Press, reporting via News4JAX, wrote that Freddie Mac's average 30-year fixed rate reached 7.40% on October 8, 2026. That was the seventh weekly increase in a row and the highest level in nearly three years. A year earlier, the average was 6.30%.
With rates near that level, a builder advertising a rate in the mid-5% range is offering something most resale sellers can't match. A typical resale seller can offer a closing-cost credit. They rarely have the budget or a lender relationship to bring a buyer's rate down by close to two points.
Price band matters here, and it works against Saint Johns buyers in one way. In the regional data, 49.7% of 2026 closings between $300,000 and $500,000 recorded a concession. Between $500,000 and $750,000, the rate dropped to 37.0%. Above $750,000 it was 27.7%. The St. Johns County single-family median was $568,750 in September 2026, according to the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors. That puts much of Saint Johns in a band where concessions are less automatic than they are in lower-priced parts of the region. A buyer here may have to ask for the credit rather than expect it.
What builder offers look like this month
Builder offers change often, so treat the following as examples of how offers are structured, not as current quotes.
- Mattamy Homes, including RiverTown. Mattamy's Jacksonville "Your Home Your Way" promotion offers 50% off eligible design options, up to $25,000 in savings, on qualifying to-be-built homes. The fine print gives an offer period of October 1 to 31, 2026. The design incentive doesn't require Mattamy's affiliated lender, it can't be combined with other promotions, and incentives can vary by homesite.
- Dream Finders Homes, Shearwater and SilverLeaf. Dream Finders' Jacksonville sales event advertises savings of up to $86,000 on select move-in-ready homes and rates from 5.49%, or 6.247% APR. Its listings included $15,000 off a four-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot home at 174 Donovan Drive in Shearwater listed at $520,384, and $30,000 off a home in Silver Landing at SilverLeaf. The page lists no expiration date. The Shearwater home was labeled under construction even though the event describes move-in-ready homes, so confirm eligibility with the builder.
- Toll Brothers, Bartram Ranch. A sales event that ran from October 3 through October 18, 2026, advertised up to $100,000 to use on select homes and an FHA 30-year fixed rate of 5.49%, or 6.27% APR. That event has ended. It shows how large these incentives can get in Saint Johns.
The pattern across these offers is that the largest numbers come with conditions. They apply to select homes, they run for a set window, and some are tied to a particular loan type.
The resale seller is competing with a builder's budget
For anyone selling an existing Saint Johns home, the same data changes the pricing question. The NEFAR September 2026 report shows St. Johns County with 1,456 active single-family listings, a 3.7-month supply and a median of 42 days on market, up 6.3% from August. The two Saint Johns ZIP codes don't move at the same speed. Momentum's September 2026 Market Pulse shows a median of 27 days on market in 32259 and 40 days in 32092 for single-family closings from July through September 2026.
Homes in both ZIP codes are still selling. Still, a resale listing is now often compared, at nearly the same price per foot, with a new home whose builder can pay several times what a typical homeowner concedes. The premium study recommends that sellers price against that competition, not against the premium resale used to command. The study also notes that this gap could reopen if rates fall and more owners list their homes.
Comparing a new build and a resale side by side
Since the sale price hides much of the difference, compare the two homes on what you would actually pay:
- Get the full incentive in writing. Ask whether it's a price reduction, a closing-cost credit, a rate buydown or a design credit. Each one affects your cash at closing and your monthly payment differently.
- Ask what the offer requires. Find out which lender, title company, loan type, homes and contract or closing dates are required to qualify.
- Compare monthly payments. Run both homes at the rate each would actually carry, including taxes, insurance and any community assessments.
- Ask the resale seller about a credit too. Resale concessions are less common in the $500,000 to $750,000 range, but four in ten resale closings in the region still carried one in 2026.
- Look at price per square foot. Two homes with the same price can give very different value per foot.
This post is general market information and isn't legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm loan terms, rate buydowns and contract conditions with a licensed lender and the right professionals for your situation.
A few direct questions
Does a lower median mean every new build in Saint Johns is a better deal? No. The county medians don't control for size, lot or location, so each home still needs its own comparison.
Why don't builder credits show up in comps? A concession is credited at closing, and the contract price stays the same. The home records at full price, which keeps neighborhood comps higher than what buyers actually paid.
Will this last? No one can say. The gap narrowed while resale owners held onto low-rate mortgages, and it could reopen if more existing homes come up for sale.
If you're deciding between a builder's offer and a resale in Saint Johns, Katie Kravtsov can put both homes' recorded prices, incentive terms and monthly payments side by side, so you know what you're actually being offered before you sign. Schedule a Free Consultation.
