According to Apartment Ratings, the prices of both one and two bedroom apartments in Fort Lauderdale have almost doubled in the past ten years. Rates for two bedroom units are at their all time high. This follows the national trend where the rental market now belongs to the landlords.
Fort Lauderdale Craigslist boasts almost 500 properties for rent today with an average rent of $1592. One bedroom units in Fort Lauderdale rent for around $1119 and two bedroom apartments go for about $1476. Median rents for larger units are up about 10 percent for the last calendar year while rates for smaller apartments have remained stable. In the last six month period, however, trulia.com tells us that increases have greatly moderated.
Three very popular Fort Lauderdale areas are Central Beach Alliance, Victoria Park, and Coral Ridge. These are considered extremely upscale. Riverside Park, Middle River Terrace, and Poinsettia Heights are not the first choices of many renters–avoid these if possible.
Many diverse persons are drawn to Fort Lauderdale. It is directly north of Miami and an amazing 10 million visitors arrive there each year. The area was known as the spring break capital of the world in the 1980s, and is still enormously popular with college students today. Fort Lauderdale also boasts a huge yacht industry that employs almost 110,000 persons.
Foreclosures and short sales have recently dominated the Fort Lauderdale real estate market and this fact has contributed to the strong apartment rental market. Many solid young professionals do not want to buy into a real estate market that is still predicted to lose value. When they add up the costs of home ownership, which include maintenance and possibly HOA dues, many people prefer to rent. Also, since most mortgage payments go directly to the interest portion of the loan for the first few years, there is not much early opportunity for loan principal reduction–especially if there is no real estate appreciation visible on the horizon. It is hard to find the incentive to buy under these circumstances. Fort Lauderdale apartments become the next logical choice for many people.
Demand exists and supply is limited, so even though rental rate increases have temporarily slowed during the last six months, the trend is definitely upward. Be sure to lock in any good rate found with a long term lease.
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