TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — New rent reports on how the price fluctuations changed during March show that Tampa’s average rent for a one-bedroom apartment dropped to $1,580 last month. While it’s only a 1.3% decrease, it continues the recent drop in prices reported at the beginning of March, indicating a possible cooldown in the housing market.
The report from Zumper examined seven cities in the Tampa Bay metro area and found that Tampa is now the fourth most expensive city in the area to rent in. In the region, Sarasota remains the most expensive city to rent in, even for just one-bedroom apartments. Lakeland remains the cheapest city of those surveyed, putting Tampa in the middle of the pack.
According to the report, median rent statewide is $1,578, putting Tampa in line with state costs.
Despite the price drop from March, Tampa rent is still up 32.8% compared to last year. Sarasota, in addition to its status as highest rent, also has the fastest-growing rent compared to the other cities in the area. Prices in Sarasota are up 37.9% compared to the previous March.
For month-to-month fluctuations, Lakeland saw the largest growth in monthly rent, up 5.2%. Bradenton was not far behind, with a 4.9% growth compared to the month before.
Tampa and Sarasota were the only two cities in the Zumper report to have their one-bedroom rent prices drop, though Venice, Fla. had no fluctuation month-to-month. When it comes to two-bedroom apartments, Sarasota and Largo both had rent decreases, 2.3% down and 0.6% down, respectively. Tampa’s two-bedroom rent went up 1.6% even though its one-bedroom prices slightly shrank.
Here’s how the cities surveyed by Zumper broke down in rent price and growth from March 2021 to March 2022:
| City | 1 Bedroom Price | Monthly Change | Yearly Change | 2 Bedroom Price | Monthly Change | Yearly Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarasota | $2,000 | -1% | 37.9% | $2,500 | -2.3% | 28.2% |
| Venice | $1,840 | 0% | 31.4% | $2,550 | 2% | -15% |
| Bradenton | $1,700 | 4.9% | 30.8% | $2,170 | 1.4% | 35.6% |
| Tampa | $1,580 | -1.3% | 32.8% | $1,880 | 1.6% | 33.3% |
| Clearwater | $1,500 | 3.4% | 15.4% | $2,240 | 3.7% | 35.8% |
| Largo | $1,350 | 0.7% | 33.7% | $1,750 | -0.6% | 34.6% |
| Lakeland | $1,010 | 5.2% | 5.2% | $1,260 | 5% | 10.5% |
The high prices in Sarasota bring recent comments by county commission members into sharper focus. District 3 Sarasota Commissioner Nancy Detert said the prices in the county were too high for people to afford to live, just as the commission voted unanimously to approve $25 million in funding for affordable housing efforts.