It’s no secret that more and more people are moving to Florida, and the wealthier crowds may be driving up Tampa’s rental prices.
A new report from online rental site Apartment List found that Tampa’s year-over-year rent prices have swelled by 20%. The cause? Remote work, a summertime free of moving restrictions and wealthier out-of-towners.
“As we emerge from the pandemic, more residential migration, more cross-metro moves, and higher cross-metro budgets are all contributing to rent prices rising quickly, everywhere,” the report says.
Before the onset of COVID-19, the report found that residential mobility was at a low, with a national mover rate of less than 10%. But between April 2020 and 2021, 16% of full-time workers moved.
Turns out these apartment hunters are wealthier, which is a bummer for Tampa residents looking to move. Because of the pandemic, the richest workers have geographic flexibility, and they’re staying in the rental market due to low for-sale inventory.
In the second quarter of 2021, the report found that potential renters were willing to spend an average of $1,335 per month for a new apartment. That’s a 6.5% surge from just one quarter before and an all-time-high.
Out-of-town apartment seekers are also hiking up rental prices. According to the report, 38% of searches into Tampa are from these folks, and their budgets are 17% higher than Tampa residents. While Tampa residents looking for a new place have a monthly budget of $1,212, these out-of-town renters have a budget of $1,423. In just a year, the long-distance movers’ budgets have grown by 11.1%.
Tampa markets have been competitive for years, and this only contributes. Tampa is not alone, though. Among the 15 metros with the fastest year-over-year rent growth has increased by 21% in the Sarasota area of North Port.
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This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2021.