Tampa Florida Among the Best Cities for Renters

While conducting some real estate research, we came across an article from June of 2012:

The Best And Worst Cities For Renters in Forbes.

At Graystone Investment Group, we’re always telling our clients that Tampa is a great city to invest in so naturally this list of best and worst cities caught our eye – and Forbes agrees!

Best Cities To Rent, No. 5: Tampa – St. Petersburg – Clearwater, Florida!

Here’s why:

Across the country rental opportunity is rising. As many families are foreclosed on or in the process of changing careers and relocating, they have to or prefer to rent instead of purchase. Investors can snatch up the foreclosures, and rent to this increasingly large market of tenants.

While this is great for investors, renters themselves have to look out for opportunities. It doesn’t make sense to rent when you have the means to buy – or does it? Read on!

How did Forbes come up their list of best and worst cities? With the help of Marcus & Millichap, they started with the 44 largest U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and Metropolitan Divisions (MSADs).

They then critiqued these areas according to select criteria:

• Average rent in 2012 (first quarter).
• How much rent has changed year-over-year.
• Vacancy rates.
• The difference between the average monthly rental payments versus monthly mortgage payments.

In metropolitan areas like White Plains New York and Wayne New Jersey, the average rent is $2902, and is increasing at 2.6% each year. There’s only a 2% vacancy which means that competition among renters is fierce, and when all is said and done it’s actually $217/month cheaper to own versus rent in this area. This makes New York one of the worst cities for renters!

Then, you have areas such as our beloved Tampa Florida with an average monthly rent of $820, only a 0.9% increase in rent year-over-year and a vacancy rate of 5.9%. It’s only $77 cheaper to own versus rent which means that tenants may “hang around” a bit longer than they would before buying. In White Plains New York and Wayne New Jersey, the pressure to buy is on!

For more real estate and rental market information, follow our blog each week. Fill out the Investor Profile Sheet to receive a call from one of our Account Executives if you yourself are interested in investing in rental properties here in Tampa. We’d love to learn more about your investment goals!