SW Florida seeing first sign of housing market stability, property manager says

FORT MYERS, Fla.  — Rental prices are starting to stabilize in the market, according to a new report from Redfin. It shows several major cities such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach are no longer in the top 10 of the highest rent increases year over year.

Redfin reports rent in metro cities only went up by 0.7% from May to June, which is the smallest month-over-month increase since the beginning of the year. To put this into perspective — people are paying a little bit more than $2,000 a month across the country.

“I think things are starting to level out a bit more,” said Michael McVety, property manager of Red Fortress Property Management.

He says higher-end rental properties above the $2,500 mark are starting to adjust to the market. According to Florida Realtors, the average price for rent is $2,073 in Fort Myers.

“Obviously you have a lot of things that are affecting the consumer. You have inflation, you have the cost of food, gas and you’re throwing rent in there and there’s only so many people can afford,” McVety explained. “People can only afford a certain amount and that’s when the market is going to start adjusting.”

Year over year, Redfin says rent has gone up by 14%, which is the smallest increase since October.

“You could talk about a 14% increase in rents. That’s great, but the average person is not making that increase year over year,” McVety said.

As people either leave the area or choose not to rent because of the prices, he says it builds market pressure. Right now, he’s seeing properties on the market for 50 days, which is longer than what he’s seen.

“That property stays high here, and it doesn’t rent, it’s going to start coming down and that’s kind of going to put the pressure on the middle and lower-end rental apartments — that’s what traditionally happens,” McVety explained.

He says more properties are coming on the market, but the biggest question is how many more people are going to be moving to the area.

“It’s not that all the rental prices are going to go down. It’s that some of them are not increasing and that’s the first sign of stability in a market,” McVety said.