Millennials are buying up homes in these 3 Central Florida metros, study finds

ORLANDO, Fla. – Millennials aren’t just renting longer — they’re increasingly buying homes, and Central Florida is among the biggest hotspots.

A new RentCafe analysis of over 100 metro areas found millennial homeownership jumped 74% in five years, rising to 12.41 million in 2023.

Meanwhile, the number of millennial renter households grew far more slowly — up 5.1% — reaching 12.57 million.

What it means for Central Florida

Three metros in the Central Florida area ranked near the top nationally for growth in millennial homeowners:

• Lakeland: +140.7% growth in millennial owner households from 2018 to 2023 (No. 2 nationally)
• Palm Bay: +111.9% (No. 6)
• Deltona: +108.5% (No. 9)

RentCafe’s takeaway: Many of the fastest-growing millennial homebuying markets are mid-size Florida metros where incomes for Gen Y workers have been rising while price increases remain more manageable than in the country’s most expensive markets.

Why Florida is showing such big gains

RentCafe points to a mix of forces pushing and pulling millennial buyers toward places like Lakeland and Deltona:

• Relative affordability compared with major coastal markets
• Lifestyle and quality-of-life appeal in “sunny” regions
• Pandemic-era migration and remote work flexibility, which let some households move away from dense, high-cost city centers

Florida also stood out in rental growth: Orlando posted the largest increase in millennial renters among the metros studied, with renter households up 34%.

The bigger picture

Across the country, millennials have now reached a near balance between owning and renting, and in most places, owning is now ahead.

In fact, RentCafe found that over 80 metros analyzed have more millennial homeowners than renters — a sign that the generation’s long-delayed move into homeownership is spreading beyond just a few markets.

Meanwhile, the full ranking of Florida metros where millennial homeownership increased is as follows: