Tampa's millionaire renters

New at 4, the Tampa metro area is seeing a surge in millionaire renters. According to a national report, Tampa has seen a more than 200 percent increase over a four-year period in the number of millionaire families choosing to rent. Fox 13's Erin Mesmer is live in Tampa to break down this report for us. All right, Erin, what's the reason for the increase? Haley, a lot of we're told a lot of families that have some extra wealth are moving here and then choosing to rent for about a year or so before they get out and buy their longer term, more permanent situation and buying a house. And we're told that's really what's behind this surge that this report has found. It's from the company Rent Cafe. It found the number of millionaire households renting in Tampa increased from 21 in 2020 to 76 in 2024. Doesn't seem like a lot of families, but still that's about it. 262% increase and it ranked 15th among U.S. metro areas ahead of cities like New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. It also outpaced the national increase of about 230%. We talked with a local realtor about what they're seeing and the expert who compiled this data. He says a common thread among cities that saw the biggest increases is a rise in new businesses moving in, leading to more people moving to the area. We have something that we call the magnifier effect. The magnifier effect is that the more housing stock or the inbound migration patterns of demographics really causes economic diversity. So the magnifier effect says for every one, say, manufacturing job, you need maybe a dry cleaner, you need grocery, et cetera, et cetera. It magnifies in terms of economic diversity. They'll come in for a year to get to know specific areas. A lot of Tampa is hyperlocal, as well as different areas like St. Pete, right? So they want to get to know that specific area. If it's Water Street, if it's the Channel Side District, if it's the Hyde Park, which are a lot of higher income areas, they want to get to know specifically where they're going to move and give themselves the time to do that. But what we are seeing is that they rent for typically 12 months, typically a long-term rental, and then move on to purchase. And experts with Rent Cafe say another common thread among cities on this list, overall desirable locations, especially along the coast, like right here in Tampa Bay. And the report also found that nearly half of the millionaire renters are millennials, with Gen Z posting the fastest surge. Realtors here in Tampa Bay say in their experience, a lot of the people in those generational categories are coming from families with generational wealth, so that makes them more suited and better positioned to afford To rent some of these higher-priced rental properties, Haley, we're talking about, in some cases, $10,000 to $20,000 a month. A month? Wow. A month. All right. You know, I was wondering, because I so often see a lot of younger people living in some of these big, posh... Units. So there you go. I guess. Yeah, I think I think more consistently. It's probably when these we're talking about these rental properties, probably more five to 10,000. But some of them, I mean, especially those luxury condo towers that are being built around here in Tampa. Yeah, it's talking. It could be 10 to 20,000. They keep building them and people keep moving into them. All right. Erin Mesmer reporting tonight. Erin, thank you.