Pasco state leader in rental profits

Investors looking for the best returns in real estate might want to check out the rental market just north of Tampa.

Pasco County, where the population has exploded by 35% in the last decade, is not only one of Florida's best places to make money on rentals — it's one of the best in the country.

The annual gross rental yield for cash buyers in Pasco was 19.2%, according to a new report from RealtyTrac. It's the fourth-highest yield in the nation, behind only Baltimore (24.8%); Clayton, Ga. (24.3%); and Wayne, Mich. (21.1%).

The yield is well ahead of the national average RealtyTrac calculated from 461 counties nationwide, which produced a gross rental yield of 9.3%.

However, that wasn't the story in other parts of the country, where analysts claim the time is right for renters to make the move to home ownership.

“From a purely affordability standpoint, renters who have saved enough to make a 10% down payment are better off buying in the majority of markets across the country,” says Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac vice president, in a release. “But factors other than affordability are keeping many renters from becoming buyers, a reality that means real estate investors buying residential properties as rentals still have the opportunity to make strong returns in many markets across the country.”

Florida did not make the list of most affordable rental markets, a list dominated instead by Georgia and Ohio. However, three metro areas in the state did make the list as the least affordable, including Miami-Dade with a 45% median income to rent percentage, as well as Broward County at 43%, and Hernando County at 42%.

RealtyTrac looked at counties with a population of more than 100,000 that also provided sufficient home price and rental rate data. Rental returns were calculated using annual gross rental yields.