In Jacksonville, a jumbo loan starts at $832,750. Anything at or below that is conforming. Anything above it is jumbo, and the rules change completely.
Where the Line Sits in Northeast Florida
The 2026 conforming loan limit for a one-unit property is $832,750. Duval, Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties all sit at that baseline figure.
Here is the part most pages get wrong. Some high-cost counties get a middle tier called a high-balance loan — conforming, but above the baseline. Northeast Florida has no high-balance tier. None of our counties are designated high-cost, so the baseline is also the ceiling. You go straight from conforming to jumbo at $832,750, with nothing in between.
That matters when you are shopping a $900,000 house in Nocatee or Ponte Vedra. There is no intermediate product to fall back on.
Jumbo Guidelines Are Not Written by Anyone Official
This is the most important thing to understand, and almost nobody says it plainly.
Conventional loans follow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules. FHA follows HUD. VA follows the Department of Veterans Affairs. All of those are published, uniform and public.
Jumbo loans are, by definition, loans Fannie and Freddie will not buy. There is no agency setting jumbo down payment minimums, credit score floors, reserve requirements or debt ratio caps. Every one of those numbers is set by the individual investor or portfolio lender, they differ meaningfully between lenders, and they change without notice.
So when you read that jumbo requires 20% down and a 720 score, that is somebody's guideline, not a standard. We will not publish a table pretending otherwise. What we will do is tell you what our current investors are actually doing on the day you ask.
What we can tell you factually is who is getting these loans. A recent prime jumbo securitization pool of 436 loans carried a weighted average credit score of 779 and a weighted average loan-to-value of 69.9%. That is roughly 30% equity and a high-700s score. It is a useful picture of the middle of the market, not a cutoff.
Jumbo Rates Are Not What They Used to Be
For decades jumbo carried a premium over conforming. Federal Reserve research put that spread at roughly 13 to 24 basis points across 1993 to 2007, with jumbo the more expensive product.
That flipped. Through 2026, industry survey data has shown 30-year fixed jumbo pricing running within about a tenth of a point of conforming, and at several points during the year jumbo priced below conforming. Jumbo has also consistently carried fewer points.
Why the reversal, in short: agency loans carry guarantee fees and loan-level price adjustments baked into their pricing. Jumbo loans do not. Banks also hold jumbo loans on their own books partly to win relationships with high-net-worth clients, and jumbo borrowers as a group carry materially stronger credit. Rates change constantly and are an estimate based on the information provided, but the old assumption that jumbo automatically costs more is out of date.
What a Portfolio Lender Can Do That an Agency Cannot
Agency lending is bounded by published, uniform rules. A portfolio lender holding the loan on its own balance sheet is bounded only by its own credit policy.
That structural difference is why jumbo and non-agency programs can consider things agency underwriting will not — alternative income documentation for self-employed borrowers, qualifying on assets rather than income, interest-only structures, non-warrantable condos, and higher counts of financed properties. Which of those are available to you depends entirely on which investor fits your file, which is exactly the question a broker with 55 lender relationships exists to answer.
Related: bank statement loans, asset depletion, and interest-only options.
Where Jumbo Comes Up Around Jacksonville
Ponte Vedra Beach, Nocatee's higher tiers, Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach oceanfront, the San Marco and Avondale historic districts, Deerwood and Glen Kernan, and much of the intracoastal and riverfront inventory. A $1.1 million purchase with 20% down lands at an $880,000 loan — jumbo by about $47,000.
See our pages for Ponte Vedra Beach, Nocatee, Atlantic Beach and St. Johns County.
Get Real Numbers
Tell us the price range, your down payment, and roughly where your credit sits. We will come back with what our current jumbo investors will actually do — and whether structuring below $832,750 with a larger down payment beats going jumbo. Sometimes it does. Check today's rates to start.
Jumbo Loan Questions from Jacksonville Buyers
What is the jumbo loan limit in Jacksonville for 2026?
A one-unit loan above $832,750 is a jumbo loan in Duval, Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties. That is the 2026 baseline conforming limit, and because none of these counties are designated high-cost, there is no high-balance tier between conforming and jumbo here.
How much do I need to put down on a jumbo loan?
There is no set answer, because jumbo guidelines are not written by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or any government agency. Each investor sets its own minimum and they change without notice. Recent prime jumbo loan pools have averaged around 30% equity, but that reflects who is borrowing rather than a requirement. Ask us for current investor guidelines.
Are jumbo rates higher than conforming rates?
Not necessarily, and not lately. Historically jumbo carried a premium of roughly 13 to 24 basis points. Through 2026 the two have run within about a tenth of a point of each other, with jumbo pricing below conforming at several points in the year. Rates change constantly and any quote is an estimate based on the information provided.
What is a high-balance loan and can I get one here?
A high-balance loan is a conforming loan above the baseline limit but within a high-cost county's ceiling. Northeast Florida has no high-cost counties, so no high-balance product is available in Duval, Clay, St. Johns or Nassau. You move directly from conforming to jumbo at $832,750.
All figures are estimates based on information provided and are not a commitment to lend. Jumbo loan guidelines are set by individual investors, vary between lenders, and change without notice. Loan limits are set annually by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. All loans subject to credit approval. North Star Mortgage Network, Inc., Company NMLS #356789 · Nathan Young NMLS #325206 · 12058 San Jose Blvd, Suite 404, Jacksonville, FL 32223 · 904-880-6741. Equal Housing Lender.
