Report: 8 of 10 U.S. areas with highest rent increases were in Florida

MIAMI – In news that should come as no surprise to any Sunshine State renter, a new report out of Harvard University found that eight out of 10 areas with the highest year-over-year rent increases were in Florida.

Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies conducted the analysis as part of its regular “State of the Nation’s Housing” report.

“After a record-shattering year in 2021, the housing market is at an inflection point,” the report states. “Higher interest rates have taken some heat out of the homebuying market, and the large number of apartments under construction should bring some relief on the rental side. For lower-income households and households of color, though, the pressure of high housing costs is unlikely to relent.”

Across the country, rents for professionally-managed apartments rose 11.6% in the first quarter of 2022, while rents for single-family homes went up 12.4%, the fastest recorded pace going back to 2004.

According to the university, in America’s 150 large housing markets, the areas where rent increased the highest were concentrated in the Sun Belt, particularly in Florida.

Naples led the pack with an eye-popping 42% year-over-year rent increase in the first quarter of 2022, while Sarasota (37%), Cape Coral (32%) and West Palm Beach (30%) followed closely behind.

When it comes to rent for single-family homes, Miami led the pack with a whopping 39% increase year-over-year, dwarfing even Cape Coral’s 28% increase.

Outside of Florida, rents were also on the rebound in large coastal markets like New York, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Seattle. Those markets saw demand fall early in the pandemic.

“Moderating demand in the second quarter of 2022 has helped slow rent increases, but even as conditions in the professionally managed market segment begin to ease, severe housing affordability challenges remain,” Sophia Wedeen, a research analyst at the Joint Center for Housing Studies, wrote.