Rents in Bradenton area rank among the nation’s least-affordable, according to study
Rents in the Bradenton area rank eighth on the list of least-affordable small American cities, underscoring the runaway prices that are making life more challenging for workers.
Bradenton’s ranking, in a study released this week by New York business research firm AdvisorSmith Solutions, Inc., took into account the average weighted rent in Bradenton of $1,509 and the median household income of $46,776.
With 9,218 rental households in Bradenton, the rent-to-income ratio is 38.7%, compared with the national average of 25% for small cities nationwide, according to the study.
Bradenton’s ranking comes as no surprise.
Spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bradenton has experienced an influx of new residents from high-income states like New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and California. Many of them bring plenty of money, and buy their new homes with cash. As a result, the cost of housing of all kinds has skyrocketed. The median price for an existing single-family house in Bradenton in July was a record $430,000.
George Kruse, an at-large Manatee County commissioner, is an advocate for adding more affordable or workforce housing.
“The metric has two variables: the cost of housing and income. We have a disconnect between the two around Florida and locally. We have low wages and a cyclical economy based on services and tourism,” Kruse said.
“We need to continue to push for higher wage jobs to come here,” he said.
Kruse would like to see local governments facilitate the building of smaller housing units, more in-fill development, greater density, and allow taller building heights.
“We make it difficult for people to provide what we need,” he said.
While everyone seems to support the concept of having affordable housing in their communities, too often residents say not in my neighborhood.
As a recent example, parishioners and neighbors rose up in opposition to building an affordable housing complex on St. Joseph Catholic Church property in Bradenton. In that case, opponents said the complex would prevent St. Joseph Catholic School from being able to expand in the future and put students at risk.
Recently, Manatee County commissioners approved allowing accessory dwelling units as another form of available housing.
Also known as ADUs, they are small units that can be built in addition to the main house on a property. Commissioners hope ADUs can provide better local options for multi-generational housing.
Mike Snipes, an economics instructor at the University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee, said inflation is turning the screws on people struggling to make ends meet.
“We have always had a lot of people moving into this state, and that’s increasing,” he said of the cash buyers who are snapping up available properties.
Rob Harris, executive director of the Sarasota-Manatee Manufacturers Association, said that the cost of housing is something that his members talk about, including the disappearance of cheaper living in bedroom communities. While the bedroom communities haven’t disappeared, the cheaper housing has.
Seven Florida small cities made the top 10 list of least-affordable communities for renters. Other Florida cities on the list include Aventura, Miami Beach, Boynton Beach, Kissimmee, Sunrise, and Delray Beach.
Among mid-sized Florida cities, Gainesville, Clearwater, Pompano Beach, Port St. Lucie and West Palm Beach all made the top 15 least-affordable list.
Among large Florida cities, Miami was ranked first as least affordable with 124,366 rental households, a median income of $39,049, median rent of $1,624, and a rent-to-income ratio of 49.9%.
Earlier this year, the Urban Land Institute released a study that ranked the Bradenton-Sarasota-North Port region among the 24 least-affordable regions in the United States.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 3:43 PM.
