Real Data from 250+ Central Florida Properties: What’s Actually Happening with Rents

[Jorge Vazquez]

Every week I see the same debate online: “Rents are dropping!” “No, they’re still climbing!” You’ve got analysts, news anchors, and even agents arguing both sides like they’re calling a boxing match.

But here’s the thing — I don’t need to guess. My team manages and tracks over 250 properties across Central Florida, from Tampa and St. Pete to Lakeland and Jacksonville. That’s everything from single-family homes and small duplexes to full quadplexes. So instead of listening to the noise, we decided to look at our own numbers.

We pulled every rent log, every renewal, and every new lease signed between February 2024 and September 2025. What came out was a real picture of what’s happening — not market predictions or nationwide averages, but hard data from our actual portfolio.

Here’s what we found: rents rose an average of 22.6% across Central Florida during that period. That’s right — while the internet was screaming about rent crashes, real landlords were quietly collecting higher checks.

Now, this doesn’t mean every city or property saw the same thing. In Tampa, rent growth was steady but not wild — around 10 to 15% depending on the neighborhood. The biggest jumps actually came from smaller markets like Lakeland, Pasco County, and parts of Polk where people priced out of Tampa moved for affordability. Those areas saw jumps closer to 25 to 30%, especially on homes that had upgrades or recent rehabs.

Jacksonville was interesting too. It used to lag behind Tampa for rent growth, but lately, it’s catching up fast. Working-class neighborhoods that once rented for $950 to $1,000 are now easily pushing $1,200 and up — and that’s without Section 8.

The other big takeaway was stability. Even with all the news about affordability issues and renters leaving, vacancy rates stayed low across our entire portfolio. When one tenant left, we had two or three inquiries lined up within days. It’s not like 2021’s chaos, but demand is still strong.

Insurance premiums dropping also helped. We’ve seen policies fall 25–40% since early 2025, which is bringing net returns back up for investors who held on through the rough years. Between rising rents and lower costs, landlords who stayed consistent are finally seeing breathing room again.

The best part? This data is ours. It’s not from Zillow or CoStar or a national sample. It’s built from real properties we manage, collect on, and maintain every single month. So when people ask me how the market’s doing, I can literally open my rent roll and show them.

For me, this is the beauty of being hands-on. Numbers don’t lie — they just tell you what’s working and where to adjust.

So here’s my question to all the landlords and investors on here: What are you seeing in your market? Are your rents still going up like ours, or have things leveled off?

Let’s compare real numbers, not rumors.