Florida rents drop as pandemic in-migration wanes

What goes up must come down. And that apparently applies to rents in the Free State of Florida.

While the Sunshine State saw a lot of in-migration due to relaxed rules related to COVID mitigation and work-from-home policies for corporations that have since called employees back to offices, 2024 is seeing a market correction, according to Redfin.

“Florida is bucking the national trend. The Sunshine State’s four most populous metro areas are seeing rent prices decline. Jacksonville’s median asking rent fell 12.4% year over year in June — the metro’s biggest drop in records dating back to 2019. Tampa posted a 6% decline — also the largest on record. In Orlando and Miami, rent prices fell 4.8% and 3.8%, respectively,” the real estate broker says.

Part of the reason that rents have gone down in Florida (and Texas, another hot destination) despite a 1% increase nationally year over year is because construction has gone up, Redfin notes.

Both states “built a lot of apartments during the pandemic moving frenzy in an effort to meet surging demand, and now, many property owners are lowering prices to compete for tenants.”

Jacksonville was especially aggressive, placing third in the country per capita for multifamily housing developments between 2021 and 2023.

But bargain hunters may want to temper their enthusiasm given a sticky issue that many people perceive as a problem for homeowners and not those on 12-month leases.

“With so much supply on the market, renters may be able to get concessions like free parking or discounted rent. But renters in Florida should be aware that landlords are grappling with surging home insurance costs, and they may ultimately ask tenants to foot the bill via higher rents,” remarked Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari.