Report: Build-to-rent boom targets Tampa, Sarasota-Bradenton and Lakeland

Some metropolitan areas on the Gulf Coast are standouts when it comes to “build-to-rent” activity, according to a new study from apartment-finder RentCafe.

Increasingly, builders are constructing homes for renters around the country, where 27,500 houses for rent were completed last year, RentCafe reports. Currently, even more homes are in development; over 45,400 homes are under construction to be rented out in the coming years, its study shows.

Since 2019, Tampa has tripled its number of build-to-rent houses by adding 1,100 single-family homes for rent, RentCafe reports. With 1,352 rental homes under construction, that puts Tampa at No. 10 on the list of top 20 metropolitan areas with the most build-to-rent units underway.