Florida Leads Nation With 42,600 Empty Lots for Sale as Housing Shortage Persists

Florida leads the nation with 42,601 empty lots listed for sale, the most of any state, according to new research from Zillow released this week. The inventory of buildable parcels comes as the country faces a housing shortage estimated at 4.7 million homes—a deficit that could be reduced by more than 6% if just one home were built on each of the more than 300,000 empty lots currently on the market nationwide.

The analysis, based on Zillow listings from June, counted lots five acres or smaller. Florida's total far exceeds the next-highest states: Texas with 40,907 lots, California with 18,508, North Carolina with 14,226, and Georgia with 10,334. Nationally, empty lots made up 17.4% of all for-sale listings. The typical lot measures 0.57 acres—large enough in many cases to support more than one home, meaning the potential housing addition is likely higher than the 6.3% reduction Zillow calculated.

What the numbers show

Across the United States, more than 300,000 empty lots five acres or smaller were listed for sale in June. Building a single home on each would reduce the national housing deficit from 4.7 million units to approximately 4.44 million, a decrease of 260,000 homes or 6.3%. Because the typical lot size of 0.57 acres can often accommodate more than one dwelling under updated zoning rules, the figure represents a conservative estimate of the potential supply addition.

Florida's 42,601 empty lots represent the largest state-level inventory in the country. The data does not break down the lots by county or metro area, but the statewide total includes parcels in Northeast Florida's seven-county region—Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Baker, Putnam, and Flagler—where residential development has accelerated over the past decade to accommodate steady population growth.

Rural markets nationwide have the highest concentration of empty lots at 25.3% of all for-sale listings, compared to 13.6% in suburban areas and 9% in urban cores. Rural lots are also the least expensive on a per-acre basis, with a median price of roughly $75,000 per acre. Suburban lots carry a median of more than $181,000 per acre, and urban parcels average about $500,000 per acre. The pricing gap reflects both land scarcity in developed areas and the infrastructure and utility costs required to serve outlying parcels.

What keeps lots vacant in Northeast Florida

Despite the available inventory, turning empty lots into homes requires navigating zoning codes, permitting processes, and financing—three separate hurdles that can slow or stop development even when land is for sale. In Northeast Florida, these barriers play out across multiple jurisdictions with varying rules and capacity constraints.

Zoning is a primary factor. Many older suburban and rural parcels in Clay, Nassau, and Putnam counties are zoned for low-density residential use, allowing only one single-family home per lot regardless of parcel size. Rezoning to allow duplexes, townhomes, or accessory dwelling units typically requires a public hearing before the county planning commission and board of commissioners, a process that can take months and face neighborhood opposition. In Jacksonville and Duval County, where the city and county governments are consolidated, the City Council must approve land-use changes and rezonings, adding a legislative step to development timelines.

Permitting adds another layer. Projects in Northeast Florida must clear local building departments, and any work affecting wetlands—common along the St. Johns River, its tributaries, and coastal marshes—requires permits from the St. Johns River Water Management District and potentially the Army Corps of Engineers. Stormwater management plans must meet district and local standards, and new construction in FEMA-designated flood zones must comply with elevation and flood-resistant design requirements. These reviews can extend timelines and add engineering and mitigation costs that make speculative construction on raw land financially uncertain for small builders.

Financing for land purchases and construction is typically harder to obtain than a standard mortgage. Buyers interested in building on a vacant lot usually need separate loans for the land and the home construction, and construction loans require larger down payments, higher interest rates, and detailed plans and cost estimates before approval. For buyers in rural parts of Baker, Putnam, or western Nassau County, where lot prices are lower but utility connections may not exist, the added cost of bringing in electricity, water, and septic or sewer service can exceed the land purchase price.

How this shapes Northeast Florida's housing market

The gap between available lots and finished homes affects how the region absorbs growth and who can afford to live here. St. Johns County is among the fastest-growing counties in Florida, adding thousands of residents each year, but nearly all new housing comes from large master-planned communities such as Nocatee, SilverLeaf, and projects along County Road 210 and State Road 16. These developments are built by national homebuilders who buy land in bulk, negotiate utility extensions and road improvements with the county, and build at scale. Individual lot buyers rarely compete in that market.

The pattern leaves a gap for middle-income buyers who want to build equity by constructing a home on purchased land but lack access to streamlined permitting or affordable construction financing. In Clay County, where growth follows the First Coast Expressway loop through Middleburg and Green Cove Springs, and in Nassau County along the State Road 200 corridor and around Wildlight, undeveloped residential lots regularly appear on the market. Many sit for months or years because prospective buyers cannot navigate the approval and financing process or because the cost of infrastructure and impact fees makes the total project uncompetitive with finished homes offered by production builders.

Vacant lots within Jacksonville's urban core face different constraints. Infill parcels in neighborhoods such as Springfield, Riverside, and the Northside often have access to JEA water and sewer service and city roads, but small lots zoned for single-family use cannot legally accommodate the duplexes or small multifamily buildings that would make construction financially viable at current land and construction costs. The city has discussed zoning reforms to allow more density on underutilized parcels, but comprehensive changes have not been adopted. The result is scattered vacant lots that remain undeveloped even as the city pursues downtown residential growth and neighborhood revitalization.

The case for manufactured housing

Zillow's analysis highlights manufactured homes as a potential tool to convert empty lots into housing faster and at lower cost than traditional site-built construction. Manufactured homes, built in factories to federal HUD standards and transported to a site, can be completed in weeks rather than months and typically cost a fraction of conventional construction. In rural parts of Northeast Florida—western Duval, Baker, and Putnam counties—manufactured homes already make up a significant share of the housing stock, particularly on larger lots where site-built homes would be cost-prohibitive.

The challenge is financing and zoning acceptance. Manufactured homes are often financed as personal property rather than real estate, leading to higher interest rates and shorter loan terms than traditional mortgages. Some homeowners' associations and local zoning codes restrict or prohibit manufactured homes, limiting where they can be placed. Expanding financing options—such as allowing manufactured homes to qualify for standard mortgages when permanently affixed to owned land—and revising zoning codes to treat them as equivalent to site-built homes could unlock a supply of affordable housing on lots that currently sit vacant.

What happens next

The national conversation around housing supply is prompting federal and state policy responses. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, referenced in the Zillow research, includes provisions aimed at reducing regulatory barriers to homebuilding, though implementation depends on coordination with state and local governments. Zillow is participating in a 12-week federal tech sprint with the U.S. Census Bureau's Opportunity Project this summer, focused on increasing access to small-dollar housing loans in rural communities—a direct effort to address the financing gap that keeps buyers from purchasing and building on affordable rural lots.

At the state level, Florida lawmakers have debated preemption measures that would limit local governments' ability to restrict housing types or densities, but comprehensive reform has not passed. Changes are more likely to come jurisdiction by jurisdiction. In Northeast Florida, that means watching county commission and city council agendas for zoning updates, reviewing impact-fee structures that affect the cost of new construction, and monitoring JEA's capital plans for utility extensions that make outlying lots serviceable.

For buyers and small builders, the process of turning a listed lot into a finished home remains fragmented. Finding land, selecting a home design, and securing financing are separate steps handled by different vendors with little coordination. Simplifying that process—potentially through one-stop permitting programs or bundled land-and-construction financing products—would make it easier to tap the existing inventory of for-sale lots.

The broader growth story

Florida's leadership in empty-lot inventory reflects both the state's ongoing population growth and the complexity of converting raw land into housing. Northeast Florida's seven counties are part of that story, absorbing thousands of new residents each year while grappling with the infrastructure, environmental, and regulatory realities of building at the edge of existing development. The 42,601 lots listed statewide represent latent capacity—land that could become homes if the financial and regulatory obstacles were lower. How much of that capacity turns into housing, and how quickly, will depend on decisions made in county commissions, city councils, and state legislative sessions in the months and years ahead. For a region where affordability and growth management are persistent challenges, the gap between lots listed and homes built is a measure of both opportunity and unfinished work.