Tampa's Gulf Coast Condos Attracting Midwest Buyers

Related Group is betting big that Tampa’s condo and rental apartment market is poised for exponential growth in coming years—a Gulf Coast contender ready to challenge Florida’s Atlantic Coast heavyweight, Miami.

The Miami-based developer, which has completed construction on more than 2,000 residential units in Tampa, is planning to spend up to $3B on its rapidly expanding pipeline in the city in the next few years, CEO Jorge Pérez told the Tampa Bay Times.

“It’s a city that wants to be great,” Pérez said, in a recent interview with the newspaper. “We see it as definitely becoming the second-most-important city in Florida, competing with the South Florida area.”

Pérez noted that Tampa has more than just a tourist economy. The city has established the most diversified employment base in Florida as it blossoms into a powerful magnet for corporate relocations and new businesses, he said.

“Because of that, we’ve made a very strong commitment to Tampa. We think that the growth that you’re seeing now is nothing compared to what you’re going to see in the next decade,” Pérez said.

Related Group’s residential projects in Tampa include the 89-unit luxury Ritz-Carlton Residences, which last month broke the record for Tampa’s most expensive condo sale with a unit the fetched $11.6M, and Rome Yards, a mixed-use apartment complex with 20% of the units reserved as affordable housing.

While Tampa may be ready to punch above its weight and challenge Miami, Pérez—who is known as Miami’s “condo king”—told the Times that the two markets attract different demographics.

“The businesses and the people that are coming to Tampa are in many ways different than the ones coming to Miami,” he said.

“When we sell condominiums in Tampa, our sales are mostly to people from the Midwest, some from New York, and mostly to Tampa people that want to not be in a big home anymore,” Pérez said. “In Miami when we do the same thing, the market is almost 50% made up of Latin Americans that want to be in Miami.”

Since its founding, Related Group has built and managed more than 100,000 condominium and apartment units, according to the company’s website.

The Tampa Bay metro’s population grew by more than 32,000 residents in 2023 to a total of more than 3.3M, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in the Southeast. The median household income rose to $75,200 in Q1 2024, a 4.3% year-over-year increase, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s multifamily market report.