Small Florida Beach Town Continues to Set Rent Growth Records

Along with several other Florida apartment markets – both big and small – Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach was one of the nation’s rent growth leaders in May. Effective asking rents were up 23.6% in the year-ending May, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. This was the strongest showing the market has ever seen and the eighth-best performance nationwide, following seven other Florida apartment markets. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach is a small market along Florida’s Atlantic Coast, with about 36,600 units of existing apartment stock. This beach town has bustled with growth over the past two years as the trend toward work-from-home policies during the COVID-19 pandemic attracted renters to small, inexpensive locales with lifestyle appeal. In fact, we reported eight months ago that rent growth in this market was at an all-time high. Today’s price increase is nearly double that initial report. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach started the pandemic with average rental rates at about $1,100 per month. Recent increases have taken monthly rents as of May to a little more than $1,500 per month. While that’s still below the national average ($1,739), the gap is closing quickly.