In An About Face, Florida Rents Post Tepid Growth

Rental premiums have shrunk noticeably each month over the last year.

After years of astronomical rent growth, Florida rents are finally settling down compared to the national average, according to researchers at Florida Atlantic University and two other schools.

While national rents increased 3.57% annually, all measured metropolitan areas in Florida saw tepid rent growth below that amount, according to end of March data from the Waller, Weeks and Johnson Rental Index.

Rents in Cape Coral and North Port declined year-over-year by 2.83% and .39%, respectively. In Orlando, rents only increased by .90%; Palm Bay, 1.25%; Jacksonville, 1.29%; Deltona, 1.30 %; Tampa, 2.09%; Lakeland, 2.18%; and Miami, 2.76%.

The Waller, Weeks and Johnson Rental Index measures rent growth in the 100 most populated metropolitan areas across the county. Ken Johnson, real estate economist in FAU’s College of Business, and fellow researchers Shelton Weeks, of Florida Gulf Coast University, and Bennie Waller, of the University of Alabama, examine how much of a premium or discount renters are paying for the typical unit in an area based on historical pricing trends.

Florida “renters are, however, paying small premiums in the state’s varying markets, but the premiums have shrunk noticeably each month over the last year or so,” Johnson said.