Housing in Pensacola is becoming more available, just not more affordable
The inventory of homes in Pensacola seems to be stabilizing to pre-COVID levels, but for many area residents homes are still out of reach.
The need for more housing in Pensacola is shifting toward a need for more affordable housing, according to Nicole St. Aubin, a broker associate for the rental company Realty Masters of Florida.
The average rental price for a single family is now $1,779, up $50 from the same time last year, according to monthly data from the Pensacola Association of Realtors, which produces monthly reports on the growth of real estate and tracks housing trends in the region.
In December 2020, the average single-family home rented for $1,348, and the last time it was under $1,000 was in 2016.
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According to the data for April 2023, the 192 single-family homes rented last month out stayed on the market an average of 29 days. During April 2022, the 189 homes that were rented out stayed on the market an average of just 12 days.
“We do have such a good number of in-migration, new residents moving into our areas, still more people moving in than moving out. And I know we need to continue the growth in order to meet that demand, especially from the last few years,” St. Aubin said. “But here we are, still at the affordability issue."
Increasing insurance costs, interest rates, sales prices and maintenance expenses are putting a strain on landlords and renters, according to St. Aubin. The issue is pronounced among newer landlords who are having trouble hitting the sweet spot between rental rates that will cover their expenses and rates that tenants can afford.
"Many of the new landlords that we're getting are not able to rent the house out for their expenses," St. Aubin said. "So, people who bought recently are now needing to move, and they're trying to decide if they should sell or rent. They can't rent for what their final cost is, or at least the rent doesn't cover their final costs.”
She gave the example of a landlord with a $2,100 mortgage who tried to charge that amount for a rental property. With no takers, they ended up lowering the rent to $1,800.
A recent trend St. Aubin and Pensacola Realty Masters have witnessed is that people can't qualify to rent properties because companies require potential tenants' gross income to be three or more times the monthly rent. This has led to a rise in fraudulent pay stubs and people fabricating their real income, she said.
In terms of the growing availability of homes, St. Aubin said the last few years, landlords who had Airbnb units have stepped back from the market to return to long-term rentals, since they did not get the returns they wanted financially.
New developments have popped up across the area such as The Tristan Apartments off Nine Mile Road, which have an asking price of $1,435, $2,100 and $2,610 for one, two and three bedroom apartments respectively. Another new complex, Palmilla Apartments in downtown Pensacola, are $1,820, $2,284 and $3,184 respectively.
“All this new construction is filling in the needs that we, have but they're coming to the market at higher than the average house, if you look at these statistics,” St. Aubin said. “So, I do think we're past the availability shortage with this influx. And every month, there are so many new construction units coming to the market, from this mix of new construction houses and apartments, but again, not at the price point that most people need.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Affordable housing in Pensacola still as rents average nearly $1,800
