ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando real estate market — which covers Orange, Osceola, Lake and Seminole counties — is seeing the highest rent hikes in history right now, according to market analysts’ part of the CoStar group.
Brian Alford, is the director of market analytics for CoStar, based out of Tampa, and said the surge in rent prices is unprecedented.
“It’s ridiculous growth,” Alford said. “We have never seen rent growing at the pace they have been growing here in the last 4-5 months.”
[TRENDING: Tracking Hurricane Elsa | Billionaires both plan to fly to space| Freedom Week begins in Florida]
He says rent has increased an average of 14% since March 2020, with some cities increasing rent even higher — by 20%. Higher than rent prices even pre-pandemic.
“They are higher, around March of this year they got back to pre-pandemic numbers, but since March it’s been a 45-degree angle in terms of growth. It’s the 4th highest in the nation so really unprecedented rent growth,” he said.
Meaning the average cost of rent in the Orlando market today is $1,511.
“That’s for the entire market,” Alford said. “It will be more expensive in Windermere, Lake Nona and downtown.”
“It’s so expensive,” said an incoming UCF Senior who only wanted to go by Natalie.
She was apartment hunting near downtown Orlando Friday, saving enough money to rent her own apartment after living with her parents since last year.
“When you were looking throughout COVID, you had an idea of how much you’d have to save, so you got to that point and they said, ‘Never mind, it’s a lot more expensive now,’” Natalie said. “It was beyond reasonable, they were so affordable, now it’s disheartening. I figured the prices would go up once everything returned to normal, but it’s hard to play catch up.”
She said many apartments she’s visited are increasing rent almost daily.
“The demand is going up; the prices are going up every day. If you don’t sign, the rent goes up a little bit even $20,” she added.
Alford contributing that increase to many factors including younger people living at home, now ready to move back on their own, the lack of housing supply on the market for homeowners and the continued population growth — all making attaining affordable housing harder than ever he said.
“It’s good to see the rent growth that’s a clear reflection on how the economy is going,” Alford said. “It’s not great for renters. There was already an affordability issue leading into pandemic this is really squeezing renters.”
For an upcoming episode of Solutionaries, we want to highlight the people or organizations who are fighting for change and working to solve the housing issues in the Orlando area.
To find those people, we’re asking for your help.
Fill out the short survey below, or click here, to let us know who in the community is at the forefront of this issue. We also want to hear your take on the situation, how it’s affected you and what you think needs to change.