The home rental market in Southwest Florida, hit by the devastating Hurricane Ian three months ago, is considerably overvalued. The Cape Coral – Fort Myers metropolitan area is again at the top of the US markets where the rent exceeds the normal value the most. This premium grew from 17.37% in October to 18.05% in November.
Many residents of Lee County, where over 5,000 houses were destroyed and 13,000 more were damaged by Hurricane Ian, moved to the neighboring Sarasota County, making the rent in the North Port – Sarasota area surge the most in the USA (by 3.27% month-on-month). Cape Coral, with a 1.95% growth, came third. This November, the rental growth in this city reached 16.19% year-on-year, which is still the highest nationwide, although slightly lower than 17.16% in 2021.
This statistical data is based on the Waller, Weeks and Johnson Index compiled by researchers from the Florida Gulf Coast University, the Florida Atlantic University, and the University of Alabama. It reflects how the rent in a certain localities is higher or lower than the historical growth of 3 – 5% per year.
Ken Johnson, Real Estate Economist at the Florida Atlantic University, believes that the rent crisis is clearly abating nationwide. The rent is beginning to reduce or plateau.
The rental growth in Miami, however, was one of the highest compared to other largest apartment markets. It slowed down slightly in November, dropping to 16.75% compared to 15.96%.