Tampa Bay's rent increased by a record 24% in 2021, the highest in nation [View all]

[Zorro]

One apartment industry expert said it may become more common for local residents to spend half their income on rent.

It was clear by the summer that Tampa Bay’s rent increases were shattering records. But as 2021 comes to a close, the verdict is that the price changes were stratospheric.

Rent prices in Tampa Bay increased by a record 24 percent in 2021, according to an analysis by CoStar Group, a commercial real estate data firm, which included Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties. Tampa Bay had the highest rent spike in the nation for markets with at least 100,000 apartments, CoStar found.

To understand how troublesome this is for renters: The second-highest annual rent growth in the past two decades was 2015, which saw a 6.2 percent increase.

“This is a once-in-a-generation market that we’re in,” said Casey Babb, executive managing director at the Tampa office of Colliers International, a commercial real estate services company. The momentum began in 2010 as the Great Recession receded, he said, and has ramped up.

The spike is driven by demand, which is soaring in Tampa Bay thanks to a surge of new residents from out of state seeking a cheaper cost of living, warmer climate and fewer pandemic restrictions. At the same time, the supply of rental units has not caught up as the nation experiences a housing shortage affecting both the rental and home-buying markets.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/real-estate/2021/12/22/tampa-bays-rent-increased-by-a-record-24-in-2021-the-highest-in-nation/