Area on pace to set multifamily sales volume record

The resiliency of the multifamily market statewide, but particularly in Tampa, continues to defy the odds.

Fresh of the news the state needs more apartments, not fewer — according to an October report from the Florida Apartment Association, an Orlando-based trade group — comes this nugget, from data analytics firm CoStar: Tampa Bay has reached nearly $2.5 billion in apartment sales year-to-date through September, which puts the region on pace to break the record set in 2018, at $2.77 billion.

“Eight years ago, Tampa Bay may not have been on people’s radar, but today it is,” says Zach Ames, senior director at Franklin Street in Tampa, in the CoStar report. “I don’t think we’re overbuilt, even though it may seem that way. There’s still a shortage of housing.”

CoStar says the Tampa apartment sector has been rapidly rising since 2015. It cites the standard factors for the increase: population gains and job growth, which “have driven yields above the national average,” the report states.

Also, a pair of recent deals helped push Tampa Bay’s price-per-unit average to around $143,000. That bests Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Las Vegas, the report shows, while trailing New York, Miami and Chicago. (See "Tampa Bay apartment market continues to flourish" for more on the robust area multifamily market.)