In an ongoing study of rents nationwide, researchers looked at the top 100 residential markets in the United States and noticed that rents were going up all over the country. But Florida, they found, is at the top of the list. Dr. Shelton Weeks is the Lucas Professor of Real Estate at Florida Gulf Coast University.
“When we looked at the list in the top 5, all of the top five were in Florida. At our first glance, Miami was number one in terms of percentage increase. Since then, Fort Myers passed them. Now Fort Myers is number one in terms of percentage increase,” Weeks said.
Miami, he said, is still number one in terms of absolute increase.
Dr. Weeks and two colleagues created the list by looking at observed rental prices from the database of Zillow, the online real estate marketplace.
The data reflects what’s going on in southwest Florida, he said.
“We’ve got so many people moving to the area, combined with supply chain issues, and a long lead lag time associated with bringing new units to market, we just haven’t had a chance to catch up,” said Weeks.
He said he has two pieces of advice for renters: Stay in good communication with your landlord so you’re not blindsided by an increase, and make and stick to a budget.
The researchers will continue to analyze ongoing rental data.
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