Gainesville's typical home value fell to $291,789 in September, its sixth monthly drop in a row and 1.3% below a year ago, Zillow says. Rents rose 1.9%.
The typical Gainesville home lost value again in September, the sixth monthly drop in a row.
Zillow’s Home Value Index put it at $291,789, down $1,047 from August. A year earlier the index stood at $295,485, so the typical home is worth $3,696 (1.3%) less than in September 2025. The figures come from the Zillow Home Value Index city series, published by Zillow Research.
The slide follows a brief recovery. Values rose for four months over the winter, from $294,494 in November 2025 to $295,603 in March 2026. Every month since has been lower. The typical home is now $14,466, or 4.7%, below the city’s peak of $306,255 in May 2024.
What it means for you
- Buyers: prices are drifting down slowly, not falling fast. The typical home costs about $3,700 less than a year ago.
- Sellers: values are still 15.9% above September 2021 ($251,716) and about 77% above September 2016 ($164,794). Most owners who bought before 2021 remain well ahead.
- Renters: asking rents went the other way and rose 1.9% in a year (see below).
- Your tax bill is based on the Alachua County Property Appraiser’s value, not Zillow’s. Our property tax guide explains how it is set.
Zillow’s index is a smoothed, seasonally adjusted estimate for the middle third of homes, whether or not they sold. It is not a median sale price. Zillow also revises earlier months. It now puts Gainesville’s August value at $292,836, not the $295,760 it first published.
How Gainesville compares
Gainesville’s 1.3% yearly fall matches Alachua County’s. The smaller towns split: values fell in Alachua, Newberry and Archer but edged up in Waldo, Hawthorne, Micanopy and High Springs.
| Place | September 2026 | September 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archer, about 16 miles southwest | $353,443 | $359,050 | -1.6% |
| Micanopy, about 13 miles south | $328,507 | $327,620 | +0.3% |
| Newberry, about 15 miles west | $327,354 | $333,907 | -2.0% |
| Alachua, about 10 miles northwest | $322,431 | $329,711 | -2.2% |
| High Springs, about 17 miles northwest | $321,631 | $320,932 | +0.2% |
| Alachua County | $298,912 | $302,814 | -1.3% |
| Gainesville | $291,789 | $295,485 | -1.3% |
| Hawthorne, about 16 miles east | $223,490 | $222,270 | +0.5% |
| Waldo, about 13 miles northeast | $191,740 | $189,346 | +1.3% |
Source: Zillow Home Value Index, city and county series.
Every one of those towns slipped from August to September. Over the full year, the steepest falls were in Alachua and Newberry, northwest and west of the city. Waldo and Hawthorne, the two cheapest towns, gained the most.
The wider picture is a split from the rest of the country. Zillow’s index for the Gainesville metro area fell 1.1% in a year, to $297,876. The U.S. index rose 1.2%, to $366,157. Zillow ranks Gainesville 375th of 555 Florida cities in its index.
Rents are still rising
The Zillow Observed Rent Index put Gainesville’s typical asking rent at $1,618 a month in September. That is up 0.6% from $1,608 in August and up 1.9% from $1,588 a year earlier.
In Newberry, the typical asking rent was $2,191, up 2.5% from $2,138 a year earlier. In the city of Alachua it was $1,949; Zillow has no figure for a year earlier there.
Homes are taking a little longer to sell
Half of Gainesville listings went under contract within 42 days in September, Zillow’s days to pending series shows. That is slower than the 34 days of August but a little quicker than the 44 days of September 2025.
Zillow’s latest median sale price, for August, was $260,000, against $262,500 a year earlier. That figure swings widely from month to month with the mix of homes that close. It was $307,250 in July.
Builders keep adding apartments. The Census Bureau’s Building Permits Survey shows Gainesville issued permits for 170 housing units in August. Of those, 151 were in buildings with five or more units and 19 were single-family homes.
Our Gainesville home prices page carries the 10-year chart and is updated each month. Recorded sales for individual homes are on our real estate transfers page.
Related: neighborhoods and moving to Gainesville.
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