Tampa, St. Pete renters would get moderate space in home buying

Renters in Tampa and St. Petersburg could get a moderate amount of space should they buy a home, according to Point2, a real estate research and news site.

Point2 officials say renters who want "to become homeowners seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to budgeting for homebuying." So the firm looked at how much space renters could afford if they swapped monthly rent for a monthly mortgage, with all the property taxes and homeowners insurance costs included.

The results show that Tampa and St. Petersburg renters would get less space than renters in Jacksonville and Orlando but more space than renters in Miami. The study found that for renters in Tampa, making the switch from rent to monthly mortgage "might mean 991 square feet. St. Petersburg renters would get a little less space if they decided rent money would be better spent on a mortgage: 895 square feet."