Orlando has been known as the vacation capital of the world for a long time. It was a secure place to invest in vacation real estate even during economic hardship. Actually, when the economy is not strong, families turn to homes instead of hotels for their vacation. It’s cheaper, especially if they rent with other family members.
Orlando has a high occupancy rate all year long. Many would say 70-80%. This is huge compared to what most vacation homes have. Most rentals in this specific industry are seasonal. But Orlando, due to the parks and good weather has much higher occupancy rates. A recent question that investors and buyers have asked me is “is it still a good market to invest in?”. This is a very valid question given the situation with Covid-19 and short-term rental being brought to a halt in many places.
A research from College Rosen College of Hospitality Management showed that Florida’s vacation home rental industry exceeds $27 billion. Actually, in 2018, more than 14 million tourists stayed in vacation rental homes in Florida. According to the data found on an article on the Orlando Sentinel, half of Osceola county’s $60 million in annual tourist development tax revenue comes from vacation rental homes. Florida alone has about 275,000 vacation rental listings statewide.
It is a huge industry and, while it has gotten hit with rental closing down for a bit, this market is back up and running in Central Florida. Are the numbers back to normal? No they are not. But this has more to do with the fear of the virus in the state at this point in time. However, over my conversations with others, I’ve learned that more people feel comfortable with renting a home for a vacation than going to a hotel. It seems like a much more controlled space. Many locals who used to leave Florida in July are actually renting vacational homes because they don’t want to travel in the middle of a pandemic. And as numbers of infections start to go down in the state during the next few months and the cooler weather hits the north of the country, we hope those rentals to get better again and closer to their normal rates and even better by next summer.
In any case, if there is a market that can quickly bounce back in this area it is the vacation rental homes. Orlando is not just the home of Disney, Universal, Sea World and others, it is becoming an economic hub and even companies do short-term rentals for their employees when they’re coming for more than a couple of days. So, even though things are not back to normal, we hope to see things get much better in this industry and we’re already seeing some indications of it possibly recuperating faster than we thought.
So, answering your question, is Central Florida still a good place to invest in vacation rentals? My answer is YES! Those homes can be rented as vacational or regular rentals, their HOAs have already approved both types. They are in desirable areas and will most likely recuperate sooner than later. Prices versus rentals in these areas are still great and these homes tend to pay themselves. Within the Central Florida market, it is one of our most stable products and unless another lockdown is ordered we hope it continues to be so.
Maria Flores-Garcia
La Rosa Realty Kissimmee
Tel: 407- 930-3530
Cell: 407-591-2670
info@larosakissimmee.com
3032 Dyer Blvd, Kissimmee, FL 34741
