Renting Is Now Cheaper Than Buying

Central Florida · Sales vs. Rental Market

We ran the numbers on the typical Central Florida single-family home using this month's data. It isn't close — and it explains a great deal about what is happening in both markets right now.

The bottom line

Buying the typical single-family home costs about $766 more per month than renting — and that is with a 20% down payment, before a single dollar of maintenance. Add maintenance and the gap is about $1,130 a month.

Where the market stands

Two things are true at once. Home prices are roughly flat — the August median single-family price of $436,456 is almost identical to a year ago. And mortgage rates rose from 6.5% in July to 6.7% in August.

Meanwhile rents have been falling. Orlando's median asking rent is down about 4% from last year, and apartment rents are down roughly 2% as years of new construction work their way through the market.

Flat prices, rising rates and falling rents all push in the same direction.

The monthly math

Here is what it costs each month to own the median Central Florida single-family home, compared with renting a three-bedroom.

Monthly cost: rent vs. own

Median single-family home, $436,456, at 6.7% — principal, interest, taxes and insurance

Ownership figures exclude maintenance, HOA dues and CDD fees. The lower down-payment scenarios include mortgage insurance.

Most first-time buyers don't put 20% down. At 10% down the gap is about $1,244 a month. At 3.5% down — a typical FHA purchase — it is about $1,441 a month, before maintenance.

And the 20% buyer needs roughly $100,000 in cash at closing between the down payment and closing costs, for the privilege of paying more each month than their neighbor who rents.

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The assumptions behind the numbers

We deliberately chose assumptions that favor buying. We used the higher three-bedroom rent figure rather than the lower all-home median, we left out HOA dues and CDD assessments that many Central Florida homes carry, and we used a 20% down payment most buyers can't reach. The conclusion holds even so.

“But the owner is building equity”

That is the right objection, and it deserves a straight answer.

Part of a mortgage payment is principal, and principal is savings, not cost. So let's remove it. In the first year, only about $304 a month of that $2,253 payment goes to principal. The rest is interest.

Take out the principal and the owner's true monthly cost — interest, taxes, insurance and maintenance — is still about $3,088. That is more than $800 a month above rent, and it doesn't yet count what the $87,000 down payment could have earned sitting in a savings account.

The other traditional offset is appreciation, and right now there isn't any. The median home price is essentially where it was a year ago.

So today, the owner is paying substantially more each month, and the house isn't making up the difference by rising in value.

What this is doing to both markets

When renting costs less than owning, three things follow, and all three are visible in Central Florida right now.

Would-be buyers keep renting. A local Realtor survey found that 64% of agents report buyers waiting for rates to drop, and 53% say buyers are shopping at lower price points to make the payment work. Many are simply staying put as renters.

Homes take longer to sell. Homes are averaging 64 days on market, and supply has risen to 4.9 months. Sellers are offering more concessions to close deals.

Owners who can't sell become landlords. Nationally, a near-record number of homeowners who couldn't sell chose to rent their homes out instead. Every one of those homes joins the rental supply — which is part of why rents are falling even as demand from would-be buyers holds up.

That last point is the one we see every week. The owners converting to rentals aren't just competing with other landlords; they are competing with the same softening rents that made buying unattractive to begin with.

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And this is why investors have walked away

If renting is cheaper than owning for a family, the same math applies to an investor — except the investor has to make the rent cover everything, and it no longer does.

Redfin found that investor home purchases in the Orlando metro fell 25% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, one of the steepest declines of any major metro. Redfin attributes Florida's investor retreat to falling prices, high inventory, surging HOA fees and rising insurance costs — and it isn't new. Orlando has posted some of the largest investor pullbacks in the country for several quarters running.

Here is why, using the same median home:

An investor paying cash earns less than 2% on a median single-family rental — well under what a government bond pays with none of the work or risk. An investor using a mortgage loses money every month.

That is not a sentiment shift. It is arithmetic, and investors have responded to it the way arithmetic says they should.

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How the investor numbers were calculated

Gross rent of $2,260 a month ($27,120 a year), less a 5% vacancy allowance, non-homestead property tax of about 1.7% of price, landlord insurance of about $3,600 a year, maintenance of 1% of value, and professional management at a typical 9% of rent. That leaves net operating income of roughly $7,900 a year — about 1.8% of the $436,456 price.

The financed scenario assumes 25% down with an investor loan around 7.2%. The monthly mortgage payment exceeds the net operating income by roughly $1,560.

Individual properties vary, and some buyers still find value in specific homes or submarkets. But at the median, the numbers do not work for new purchases.

What this means if you own a rental

Your existing property is in a very different position than a new purchase. Most of our owners bought at lower prices, lower rates, or both. The math above is about buying today — it is not a reason to sell what you already hold, especially when selling means competing with longer days on market and a thinner pool of buyers.

Renter demand is real, but so is competition. People who would have bought are renting instead, which supports demand. At the same time, homes that couldn't sell are entering the rental market, which keeps rents in check. Pricing to the market — not to last year's rent — is what keeps a home occupied.

The resident you have is worth more than ever. With rents soft and new rental supply arriving, a reliable resident who renews is the most valuable thing a rental owner can have right now.

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The fair view: when buying still makes sense

None of this means buying is always a mistake. Buying can still make sense for someone who plans to stay many years, values control over their home, or wants a payment that won't rise with the rental market. A fixed-rate mortgage protects against future rent increases, and if rates fall meaningfully, the math changes.

This is a snapshot of the market in September 2026. It describes the monthly cost of buying the typical home today compared with renting it — not a prediction of where prices or rates go next.

If you own rental property in Central Florida and want to know how your home is positioned in this market, we're glad to walk you through it.

Verandah Properties, LLC

Pamela Syvertson, Owner & Broker · License CQ1048619 · 407-855-0331

Curating Lake Nona's Finest Rental Portfolio

Sources: Orlando Regional REALTOR® Association, August 2026 market report (sale prices, rates, days on market, supply, member survey); Zumper, September 2026 (Orlando median and three-bedroom rents); RentCafe/Yardi Matrix, July 2026 (apartment rents); Redfin investor purchase reports, 2025–2026; Zillow Research, February 2026 rental report. Ownership and investor figures are Verandah estimates using the stated assumptions; taxes, insurance and HOA costs vary by property. General market commentary only — not investment, tax or legal advice.