North and Central Florida Rent Report – May 2019

• The national average rent reached $1,442 in May 2019, a year-over-year increase of 2.5%, according to data from Yardi Matrix.
• Fort Walton Beach, FL renters saw the highest monthly rent increase in May, reaching $1,105 per month. 
• Panama City Beach, FL apartments are the most expensive among the cities analyzed, while apartments in Palm Bay, FL have the cheapest rents. 

Apartment rents increase by 2.5% as the prime rental season kicks off

Average rent prices went up by 2.5% year-over-year in May and reached a $1,442 monthly average. Nationally, rents maintain a strong month-over-month growth, but the annual increase is the slowest we’ve seen in 18 months. Residential rents are rising steadily across cities, with the third month in a row sprouting a 0.3% month-over-month jump. Compared to last May, renters pay $35 more on average, according to the latest Yardi Matrix data on apartment market trends.

Renting in North and Central Florida in May 2019

The average rent in North and Central Florida’s largest cities is generally lower than the national average rent. The fastest-growing rents in the North were in Fort Walton Beach, where rental apartment prices increased by 1% month over month, $11 more per month. The same 1% monthly increase in Pensacola translated into $10 more than last month. The slowest rising rents in the North were in Tallahassee, where prices dropped by 0.4% ($5) compared to April.

In Central Florida, the fastest-growing rents were in Orlando, where rents increased by 0.9% ($12), followed by rents in St. Petersburg with a 0.7% ($9) increase since April. The slowest rising rents were in Largo, where monthly rents dropped by 01.% ($1).

Of the cities analyzed, Panama City Beach apartments are the most expensive for renters in the North, with an average rent of $1,463, followed by apartments in Orlando, where the average monthly rent is $1,422. On the other hand, the cheapest cities to rent an apartment in is Palm Bay (Central Florida), with an average apartment rent of $1,000, and Pensacola ($1,038/month) in the North.

Methodology

RentCafe.com is a nationwide apartment search website that enables renters to easily find apartments and houses for rent throughout the United States.

The data on average rents included in our reports comes directly from competitively-rented (market-rate) large-scale multifamily properties (50+ units in size), via telephone survey. The data is compiled and reported by our sister company Yardi Matrix, a business development and asset management tool for brokers, sponsors, banks and equity sources underwriting investments in the multifamily, office, industrial and self-storage sectors. Fully-affordable properties are not included in the survey and are not reported in rental rate averages. Local rent reports include only cities with a statistically-relevant stock of large-scale multifamily properties of 50+ units.