Fort Lauderdale sees biggest annual rent growth in Florida: report

Rents in Miami are notoriously high, but its sister city to the north actually experienced more rent growth over the past year, a new report shows.

Average apartment rents in Fort Lauderdale jumped 6.6 percent year-over-year, marking the biggest annual increase in Florida, according to RentCafe’s November report. Fort Lauderdale renters can now expect to pay about $1,820 a month for an apartment.

The growth makes sense given the amount of development both underway and recently completed in the city’s downtown and at nearby beaches. At Icon Las Olas in downtown Fort Lauderdale, which the Related Group completed this year, monthly rents ranged from $2,500 to as high as $7,000 as of May.

Other South Florida cities to experience rent hikes since last year include West Palm Beach, where the average cost of an apartment increased 5.5 percent to about $1,340 a month; Pompano Beach, where rents rose 4.7 percent to $1,334 a month; and Hialeah, where rents were up 4 percent to $1,263 a month.

Across the country, Manhattan, San Francisco and Boston reported the highest average rents in November at $4,089, $3,432 and $3,262, respectively.

Odessa and Midland, both in West Texas, experienced the biggest annual growth in average rents in the U.S. In Odessa rents soard 33.2 percent to $1,111 a month, and in Midland they increased 25.6 percent to $1,274 a month, according to the report.