Tampa rent prices fell slightly in 2023. Will it make a difference for renters?
After four straight years of steep price increases, the cost of rent in Tampa finally dropped last year — but not by much.
Median rent fell by 0.4% in 2023, according to a new report from the website Apartment List. This is little reprieve for a city that experienced a 30% rent increase over the past three years — the third-highest spike in the country, behind Miami and Tucson.
“We’re talking about rent growth flattening out, maybe dipping slightly,” said Chris Salviati, senior economist with Apartment List. “We’re not talking about a serious reversal of the really big rent increase of 2021 and 2022.”
The average two-bedroom unit now costs around $1,674. In December 2018, it cost $1,187.
Prices in Tampa also held stronger compared to the rest of the country — where rents fell 1% year over year. Statewide, Florida saw a 2.9% decrease.
Some high-growth housing markets like Austin, Portland, Atlanta and Orlando saw price drops as high as 4% to 6%. Salviati said these places have been popular destinations for longer than Tampa and have had more time to build apartments to meet the demand.
