By Drew Dixon
A new study of American real estate markets reveals that Florida has the top six residential real estate areas with the highest vacancy rates.
Lance Surety Bonds examined both housing and commercial real estate vacancy rates nationwide and found that Florida is leading the trend of empty residential properties. The half dozen Florida markets with the most vacancies in the U.S. constitute nearly every major metropolitan area in the state, according to the study.
Cape Coral and Fort Myers, with a 38.7% vacancy rate of homes in their market, are among the top cities in the nation for empty properties. That’s followed by another area in Southwest Florida, with North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota coming in second with a 23.7% vacancy rate. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater finished third in the country with a 13.3% rate of empty properties, followed by Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford at 9.5% and Jacksonville at 8.6%.
Lance Surety Bonds analysts used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and CommercialEdge, a real estate firm, to compile their list. The study compared the 75 largest population areas of the country.
The only high-population area of Florida that didn’t make the top 10 cities with high residential vacancies was the Panhandle area.
While the analysis revealed that many major housing markets in Florida were struggling to counter the vacancies among residential properties, there was some good news. Both the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford and North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota areas experienced a decline in the number of vacancies. Both places remain among the highest in the country for residential vacancy rates, but the Orlando area saw a 10 percentage point drop in vacancies between 2018 and 2023. The Sarasota area experienced a 7.8 percentage point drop in vacancies.
“These drops could indicate increasing demand for housing, new residents moving in, or stronger local economies,” the Lance Surety Bonds study concluded.
Contrasting Florida, Worcester, Massachusetts had the lowest vacancy rate in the country with just 3.6% homes without any occupants. Grand Rapids, Michigan and San Jose, California, were other markets with limited home vacancies.
However, home real estate isn’t the only area where Florida is struggling to maintain occupancy. The Lance Surety Bonds analysis found Orlando was 18th in the country for commercial office real estate vacancy, with a rate of 16.7% empty units. Tampa, with a commercial real estate vacancy rate of 15.9% came in 19th, and Miami is 23rd in the nation with a 15.6% office space vacancy rate.
The post Six largest Florida metro areas post highest vacancy rates among U.S. housing markets appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..
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This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.
