Priciest Orlando Rents: UCF, Baldwin Park, Downtown

The 3 priciest Orlando rents: UCF, Baldwin Park & Downtown Orlando’s Thornton Park

Metro Orlando’s three most expensive locales for Orlando rents are in the postal codes for the University of Central Florida, Baldwin Park, and Thornton Park/Downtown Orlando, according to a report by RentCafe.

With rents often somewhat inflated by room shares, the UCF area averaged $1,715 a month. Renters in Baldwin Park and surrounding neighborhoods paid an average of $1,673. And those in Downtown Orlando and areas on the southeastern fringe of downtown paid an average of $1,643, the report showed.

Even though tenants may balk, investors have enjoyed the Orlando-area’s high-end rent growth.

Luke Wickham, who specializes in apartment sales with CBRE, said the Orlando market has been able to handle the new complexes built in recent years. The 25-story CitiTower could set a new bar for rents when it opens in the next month or two just south of Lake Eola in Downtown Orlando, he said.

“We’ve been very impressed by the rent growth, even in the luxury market and even with the new supply,” Wickham said. “It’s getting absorbed and they’re getting great rent prices.”

Overall in Orange, Seminole, Lake, and Osceola counties, average rents in July were $1,010 for a one-bedroom unit and $1,210 for a two-bedroom. They crept up 0.7 percent in July from a month earlier and grew 5.6 percent for the year, according to Apartment List.

Renters in houses throughout the four-county region had a bump but it was less significant than apartment tenants experienced. Single-family rents increased 4.8 percent in June from a year earlier, according to MorningStar Credit Ratings LLC. The analytics group reported 4 percent vacancy rates for houses in June.

Fred Thompson, director of property management for Re/Max 200 in Winter Park, said summer is the busiest time for leasing houses because families want to relocate prior to the school year starting in August and families from the North tend to relocate in summer months.

He said he has seen apartments offering a free month’s rent and other concessions to sign up new tenants but that practice has not made its way into Orlando’s single-family rental market yet.

Source: “Priciest Orlando rents: UCF, Baldwin Park, downtown,” Orlando Sentinel