Leasing Activity Jumps 15% During 2023-24 South Florida Winter Buying Season
A review of the South Florida rental statistics shows nearly 33,100 residential units were leased during the Winter Buying Season that began in November 2023 and ended in April 2024.
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As South Florida condo prices appreciate to the highest levels in recent memory, the number of leases completed in South Florida increased by nearly 15 percent during the recently concluded 2023-24 Winter Buying Season, according to an analysis of statistics compiled by CondoVulturesRealty.com.
Tenants leased about 4,216 more residential properties in the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach between November 2023 and April 2024 than a year earlier in the 2022-23 season.
Even with the double-digit jump in leasing activity, median rental rates per square foot were able inch up by nearly three percent in the 2023-24 season compared to the 2022-23 season.
Join the Miami Condo Market Investing Club™ to see all five of the charts in this report that analyzes the South Florida rental market during every Winter Buying Season since 2013
The Winter Buying Season traditionally stretches from November through April when visitors flock to South Florida to take advantage of the weather, events and vibe.
Tenants leased nearly 33,100 residences - apartments, condos, efficiencies multifamily units and townhouses - in the tricounty region in the 2023-24 season. By comparison, renters leased about 28,881 residences in the 2022-23 season. That represents nearly a 15 percent increase in total lease transactions.
This is the second consecutive season that residential leases were up double digits percentage wise, following a deep drop in the 2021-22 season when about 23,650 leases were completed.
In reviewing the statistics from the last decade, the 2021-22 season ranks as the second worst leasing period behind only the 2016-17 season when about 21,166 leases were completed.
It is worth noting, a total of nearly 310,000 residential leases were completed during the Winter Buying Seasons spanning from the 2013-14 season through the 2023-24 season. That’s an average of about 28,150 lease transactions per season.
During the 2020-21 season, more than 35,625 South Florida leases were completed in a six-month span as stay-at-home orders from the pandemic were lifted and a plethora of work-from-home employees relocated to South Florida from places such as California, Illinois and New York.
Industry watchers are at odds as to the direction of the South Florida housing market in 2024. Bullish investors are predicting housing demand will reignite once interest rates begin to fall. Bearish investors contend that home prices are too high and likely to collapse in the months ahead.