Work-from-Anywhere Trend Pushes Rents Ahead of U.S. Norm in Florida Beach Towns

The COVID-19 pandemic inspired a mass migration to U.S. beach towns. When offices were shut down and employees were allowed to work from anywhere, many people moved to the beach. As a result of increased demand for apartments and limited supply along the Florida coastline, rents jumped notably across the state in 2021. Three years later, the gap created by those price increases continues.

Effective asking prices for conventional apartments across Florida averaged $172 ahead of national rates as of February 2025, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. From 2015 through 2020, by contrast, rental rates in Florida markets ran approximately in line with the national norm.

Historically, the South Florida markets of Miami, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale have been the only locales with rent growth ahead of national norms. But inspiring Florida’s recent surge in pricing were some beach towns that have historically seen prices at least moderately behind the U.S. average. And now, those beach towns join the South Florida markets in ranking above the U.S. average.

For the most part, these towns, located along both the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts, are relatively small, with existing unit counts ranging from about 32,000 units to 72,000 units. The one major apartment market included on the list is Tampa, with over 293,000 units.

After only the South Florida markets of Miami, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, the small Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island apartment market posted one of the higher increases statewide, with effective asking rents of $2,212 in February. That was $850 more than operators in the market were asking five years ago in February 2020, before the global pandemic.

Inspiring recent rent increases, Naples apartment demand has increased notably over the past few years. Absorption for over 1,200 units in 2024 roughly tripled historical averages and came in ahead of concurrent supply volumes. Only a handful of apartment markets in Florida saw a demand surplus in calendar 2024, and most were bigger markets than Naples.

Supply has not kept pace with demand in Naples, allowing rents to grow here. In the past decade, this market has added about 5,300 new apartments, increasing the existing base by 19%, roughly on pace with the national growth rate (21%).

Causing the need for more housing in Naples, the population grew here at more than double the national pace from 2018 to 2023, according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, with the highest increases in retirement age cohorts of 55 and older.

Moving north up the Gulf coastline, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton logged monthly prices of $1,869 in February. Just a bit further north is Tampa, the only large Florida apartment market to newly register asking rents ahead of U.S. norms. Tampa posted rents of $1,856 in February 2025. Both North Port and Tampa posted some of the state’s biggest demand tallies in 2024. North Port absorbed nearly 5,230 units during the year, more than double the decade average for this market. Meanwhile, Tampa logged demand for 12,960 units, at also twice the pace of the market’s historical norm.

Supply volumes have also climbed in North Port and Tampa. In the past decade, supply has increased by 41.2% in North Port and 24.6% in Tampa, ahead of U.S. averages.

Switching over to the Atlantic Coast, Port St. Lucie/Sebastian/Vero Beach is located just north of West Palm Beach. Effective asking rents reached $1,884 in Port St. Lucie in February 2025. Demand has also been strong here, with absorption totaling nearly 2,100 units in calendar 2024, basically matching concurrent supply volumes. Port St. Lucie’s existing stock swelled by 25.1% in the past decade. Supply volumes here started increasing in alongside demand in the back half of 2023.

Not to be outdone, the South Florida trio of Miami, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale also benefitted from the influx of residents in 2021, and rates in these markets are also well ahead of where they were before the pandemic. These three locales joined Naples among the few Florida markets that saw demand top supply in calendar 2024.