Last updated September 18, 2026
Rent vs Own in South Florida: The Break-Even Year by City
Renting is cheaper month to month in every one of these South Florida cities in 2026. Owning wins over time, and the year it wins ranges from year 5 in Fort Lauderdale to year 27 in Weston on the median single-family home. Each city page shows the full math and a calculator.
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Every city, house and condo
| City | Median house | House lease | Own beats rent from | Median condo | Condo lease | Own beats rent from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Lauderdale | $700,000 | $5,600 | year 5 | $450,000 | $2,900 | year beyond 30 |
| Delray Beach | $899,900 | $6,825 | year 6 | $240,000 | $2,162 | year 8 |
| Hollywood | $550,000 | $4,500 | year 6 | $310,000 | $2,800 | year 9 |
| Coral Springs | $700,000 | $4,950 | year 7 | $218,750 | $1,950 | year 7 |
| Royal Palm Beach | $570,000 | $4,300 | year 7 | $262,000 | $2,300 | year 5 |
| Boca Raton | $1,032,500 | $6,762 | year 10 | $360,000 | $2,450 | year 22 |
| Boynton Beach | $527,500 | $3,875 | year 13 | $268,000 | $2,200 | year 13 |
| Lantana | $487,500 | $3,000 | year 17 | $310,000 | $2,574 | year 9 |
| Lake Worth Beach | $555,000 | $3,400 | year 18 | $205,000 | $1,600 | year 28 |
| West Palm Beach | $575,000 | $3,900 | year 18 | $246,750 | $2,000 | year 12 |
| Greenacres | $455,000 | $3,100 | year 19 | $212,750 | $1,800 | year 7 |
| Pompano Beach | $525,000 | $3,500 | year 19 | $282,450 | $2,400 | year 10 |
| Deerfield Beach | $522,000 | $3,525 | year 20 | $192,500 | $2,000 | year 4 |
| Palm Beach Gardens | $1,106,500 | $6,000 | year 26 | $415,000 | $2,800 | year 16 |
| Weston | $925,000 | $4,790 | year 27 | $395,000 | $2,600 | year 16 |
Method: both households start with the same cash (20% down plus 3% closing), the owner pays principal and interest at 6.95%, homestead property tax, county-average insurance, the median association fee and a maintenance reserve; the renter pays the median closed lease for the same property type and invests the cash at 4%; the owner sells on paper each year at 6.7%. Cities with seasonal or thin lease samples are not published until a like-for-like unfurnished median exists. Every input is on the city page and adjustable in its calculator.
See what your home is worth
Every move between these places starts with one number on the home you already own. Gia Freer prepares a written opinion of value by hand from our own BeachesMLS data, with the comparable sales attached. No automated estimate is published on this site.
See what your home is worth or call (561) 395-8418. Conversations are confidential and there is no cost to having one.
Where the money goes next
- Cost of living, city by city
- Moving from New York: the tax and homestead guide
- What your home is worth
See what your home is worth Two cities, every input shown. The one figure this page cannot show you is your own; that takes a conversation: (561) 395-8418.
Sources and method
Based on information from BeachesMLS for August 2026 and for January 1, 2026 through August 31, 2026, retrieved September 17, 2026. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Leases: BeachesMLS closed leases, last 13 months, medians by property subtype where n ≥ 10. Mortgage: Freddie Mac PMMS. Millage: county property appraisers, 2025 final rates. Insurance: FLOIR, July 2026. Estimates for comparison, not financial, tax or legal advice. Refreshed nightly.
Free to reuse with attribution and a link to PBP Real Estate. Figures, tables and charts on this page may be quoted, screenshotted or embedded. Keep the source line and link to www.pbprealestate.com/rent-vs-own/. Aggregates only: no address, listing number or listing-level record is published here.
For sellers
Pricing a home is a skill. Start with the current competition and recent closed sales.
42.8% of active single-family houses listings in South Florida have a recorded asking price below their original list price.
The data comes from the segment and recorded fields available in PBP Real Estate's BeachesMLS feed, as of the date shown. Gia Freer, Broker of Record, turns comparable sales and current competition into one written pricing opinion for your home, with the reasoning, before it goes live.
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