Florida rental market data

Median home-value growth across 26 measured metros was -2.2%, with the 10th-to-90th percentile running from -5.0% to 0.3%. Asking-rent growth was available for 24 metros and had a 1.1% median, ranging from -0.7% at the 10th percentile to 2.6% at the 90th. The supplied difference between median rent and price momentum was 3.4 percentage points.

The relationship still varies by market. Key West combined a $966,271 value, $3,320 monthly rent and 4.1% gross yield, while Pensacola recorded 1.0% value growth and 2.7% rent growth. Screening should therefore focus on the local price paid, achievable rent and yield rather than treating the median divergence as universal.

Across 24 measured metros, the medians were 4.2 months of supply, 69 days on market, a 30.3% price-drop share and a 96.7% sale-to-list ratio. The 90th percentile reached 7.1 months of supply and 94 days on market. Okeechobee was more extended at 167 days and 7.2 months of supply, with a 95.2% sale-to-list ratio. Key West recorded 109 days, 6.7 months and a 94.1% sale-to-list ratio.

Construction screening points in a different direction. Permits per 1,000 residents were 29.5 in The Villages, 17.5 in Punta Gorda and 16.3 in Ocala, compared with a 7.8 measured-metro median. Longer listing periods can support price negotiation, but high permitting adds a separate supply question. Permits do not establish when units will be delivered, whether they will compete for the same tenants or whether proposed projects will be completed.

Across all 67 counties, 734,244 movers entered and 678,726 left, producing measured net migration of 55,518, or 2.5 people per 1,000 residents. This is a genuine demand-side counter-signal to falling median home values.

Employment is less decisive. The median year-over-year change across 26 metros was 0.2%, with the 10th-to-90th percentile spanning -1.1% to 1.5%. The Villages, Clewiston and Ocala were stronger examples at 2.8%, 2.3% and 1.6%, respectively. Migration and employment support a local demand check, but these figures do not establish rental absorption, tenant income quality or demand for a particular property type.

Across 67 counties, the median share of renters spending at least 30% of income on rent was 56.0%; the 10th-to-90th percentile range was 45.5% to 62.7%. The measured shares were still higher in Osceola County at 65.4%, St. Lucie County at 65.3% and Broward County at 65.2%. These figures make aggressive rent-growth assumptions harder to support, even where asking rents are currently rising.

The median county vacancy rate was 15.9%, and the 90th percentile was 29.8%. Walton County, Franklin County and Monroe County recorded 43.9%, 42.2% and 37.3%, respectively. The packet does not identify which vacant units are available to long-term tenants, so these rates cannot by themselves establish rental oversupply. Unit-level occupancy, concessions, collections and lease-renewal data remain necessary.

Zillow county values showed a -1.4% median annual change across 67 counties, with the 10th-to-90th percentile spanning -3.7% to 3.7%. FHFA's measure covered 63 counties and had a positive 0.3% median, with a wider -3.4% to 5.2% range. Its median five-year increase was 60.1%. The series are not interchangeable, and their disagreement is a reason to verify recent comparable sales rather than assert uniform depreciation.

County listing data still show pockets of weak liquidity. The median was 77 days across 59 measured counties. Monroe County recorded 103 days and an 18.8% pending ratio; Collier County recorded 102 days and 24.2%; Hardee County recorded 101 days and 28.0%. Those conditions can improve acquisition leverage, but they also warn that an eventual resale may require more time.

FEMA assigns hurricane as the mutually exclusive leading-hazard label in 43 counties, inland flood in 23 and strong wind in one. These are county-level leading labels, not statements that every parcel has that exposure. The county loss-ratio median was 0.24% and the 90th percentile was 0.41%; Gulf County, Indian River County and Monroe County measured 0.55%, 0.52% and 0.47%, respectively.

The effective property-tax-rate median was 0.72%, with a 0.84% 90th percentile. Alachua County measured 0.96%, Broward County 0.94% and St. Lucie County 0.93%. These county figures belong in an initial expense screen, but they cannot substitute for a parcel tax bill, insurance quote, deductible review, flood determination or assessment history.