The Sarasota area leads the nation for millennial homeownership growth, according to a new study of 107 major U.S. metropolitan areas by RentCafe, a national apartment listing website and rental housing research platform.
The findings reflect the Sarasota area's rapid shift from a retiree destination to a magnet for younger households during and after the pandemic.
Florida metropolitan areas dominated the latest report, with Orlando ranking No. 1 for millennial renter growth and the federally designated North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metropolitan area ranking No. 1 for millennial homeownership growth.
The number of millennial homeowners in the Sarasota area nearly tripled between 2018 and 2023, increasing more than 166%.
In 2018 millennials owned
13,212 homes in the Sarasota area, with that number growing to 35,144 in 2023.
The Sarasota area millennial rental households grew from 25,295 to 29,196 between 2018 and 2023, representing a 15.4% increase, which was ranked No. 15 nationally.
The study period coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic, when Southwest Florida experienced a surge of new residents. That migration helped skew the demographics younger in fast-growing master-planned communities such as Lakewood Ranch and Wellen Park, according to Rick Severance, president of Mattamy Homes' Wellen Park Division, in a March 2023 interview with the Herald-Tribune.
Lakewood Ranch, which spans Sarasota and Manatee counties, and Wellen Park are consistently in the top 10master-planned communities for sale, according to a ranking from RCLCO Real Estate Consulting.
In 2023, whichcorresponds to the time period of the RentCafe study, Lakewood Ranch ranked No. 1 and Wellen Park No. 9 but had a 23% growth rate that year.
How did Florida metropolitan areas rank?
Overall, Florida metropolitan areas claimed seven of the top 20 spots in the RentCafe homeownership growth ranking and five of the top 20 spots for millennial rental growth.
The Lakeland MSA ranked second in both millennial homeownership growth, with a 141% increase, and home rental growth, with a 33% increase.
Millennial homeownership in the Jacksonville MSA grew 126%, which made it the third fastest growing area for home ownership. Millennial rental rates in Jacksonville grew 9.5% compared to a national average of 5%.
Pensacola is the only Florida metro where millennial renters actually declined (-12.6%) while homeownership surged 71.4%.
In the study period, 62% of Pensacola millennials own their home — the highest rate in the Sunshine State.
After North Port, Lakeland and Jacksonville, Palm Bay, Florida ranked No. 6 in millennial homeownership growth, followed by Deltona, Florida at No. 9 and Orlando at No. 13.
The top five growth spots for millennial rentals were all in Florida, Orlando, Lakeland, Cape Coral, Palm Bay and Miami.
Cape Coral also ranked No. 26 in percentage growth for millennial homeownership, with an 86.8% growth from 17,462 homes to 32,613 homes.
The full report with metro-by-metro data can be found at rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/market-snapshots/top-metro-areas-for-millennial-homeowners-and-renters.
How was the study conducted?
RentCafe author Alexandra Both analyzed 107 metro areas with the largest millennial household populations — typically defined as people born between 1981 and 1996.
The study showed that about 5.3 million millennials became homeowners between 2018 and 2023, which marked a 74% increase in millennial-owned households.
During that same time period, the number of millennial renters increased by 5%, or 600,000 households.
That brought the total number of millennial homeowner households in the country to 12.4 million, compared to 12.6 million millennial renter households.
Earle Kimel primarily covers local governments in Sarasota County as well as land development and environmental issues for the Herald-Tribune. Follow him on Facebook, and X. He can be reached by email at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota area leads nation in millennial homeownership growth
