Florida Rents Fell 3% Year-Over-Year in March — What the Cooldown Means for Orlando and Kissimmee Landlords

Florida's rental market, which spent years on a relentless upward climb, is now cooling off in a way that's catching landlords' attention. New data from Apartment List shows that statewide rents fell roughly 3% year-over-year in March, one of the steepest state-level declines in the country, as a wave of newly built apartment units continues to hit the market. Nationally, average rents dropped 1.7% year-over-year in March, the largest such decline since the pandemic reshaped the rental landscape and triggered a historic apartment construction boom.

The Florida numbers stand out even among a national pullback. Sarasota posted one of the largest metro-level rent declines in the country, down more than 8%, putting it in the same company as fast-growing Sun Belt markets like Austin and Phoenix that are also seeing years of aggressive apartment construction finally catch up with demand. Florida's statewide 3% drop placed it among a handful of states, along with Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Tennessee, where supply has outpaced renter demand enough to actually push prices down rather than simply slow their growth.

So what does this mean if you own a rental property in Orlando or Kissimmee? The short answer: expect less pricing power than you had a year or two ago, at least for now. Much of the softness nationally and statewide is concentrated in large apartment complexes, which have absorbed a flood of new units built during the 2021-2023 construction surge. Central Florida has seen its own share of that new apartment supply, particularly in submarkets with heavy multifamily development, which means tenants shopping for a lease now have more options and more leverage to negotiate than they did during the tightest years of the pandemic-era market.

If you own a single-family home or a smaller multifamily property, you're typically somewhat more insulated than large corporate complexes, since many renters specifically seek out houses or duplexes rather than big apartment communities. Still, it's worth running a fresh comparable-rent analysis before your next lease renewal rather than assuming last year's number still holds. Overpricing a vacant unit in a market with more competition can mean weeks of lost rent, which often costs more than a modest rent adjustment would have.

The upside is that this looks like a market rebalancing rather than a collapse. Florida continues to add residents, and construction pipelines are already slowing as builders react to softer rents. For owners, the smart move right now is prioritizing tenant retention, staying realistic on pricing, and leaning on a local property manager who tracks submarket-level data, rather than statewide averages, to set rent with confidence.