Orlando Housing Market Trends from Official Data

Barely: the FHFA price index for the Orlando metro rose only about 0.8 percent in the year to the second quarter of 2026, after double-digit gains in 2021 and 2022.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency index for the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford area, metro code 36740, read 457.07 in the second quarter of 2026 and 453.33 a year earlier (FHFA HPI metro file). The Orlando index touched 459.14 in the first quarter of 2026, so the newest Orlando quarter is a small step down rather than a new high.

The steep part of the Orlando run came early. From the first quarter of 2021 (297.50) to the fourth quarter of 2022 (412.75), the Orlando metro index climbed about 38.7 percent in under two years (FHFA). In the three and a half years since, the Orlando reading has added only about 10.7 percent, and the yearly gain has shrunk every year since 2022.

The Orlando index covers the whole Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metro (code 36740), not the City of Orlando alone. Percent changes in the table are Digital Towns arithmetic on the FHFA values.

Orlando owners reported a median home value of $394,100 in the 2020 to 2024 Census survey, up about 64 percent from $240,000 in the 2015 to 2019 survey.

Rents in Orlando moved more slowly than values. The median gross rent paid in the City of Orlando was $1,747 a month in the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey (ACS 2024 DP04, Orlando), against $1,196 in the 2015 to 2019 survey (ACS 2019 DP04, Orlando), a rise of about 46 percent. Median monthly costs for Orlando owners with a mortgage went from $1,629 to $2,231.

Strain on Orlando renters grew over the same stretch: the share of renting households paying 35 percent or more of income on rent rose from 44.0 percent to 48.1 percent (ACS 2024 DP04). Orlando also became a little more of an owners' city, with the owner-occupied share moving from 35.4 to 39.5 percent of occupied homes.

The newer Orlando Census figures cover the five years 2020 to 2024, so they cannot show what happened in 2025 or 2026; the FHFA series is the newer measure.

The City of Orlando authorized 2,986 new housing units in 2025, up from 1,970 in 2024, with most of the jump in buildings of five or more units.

Single-family permits in Orlando have been steady: 945 units in 2025 and 914 in 2024 (Census permits 2025, 2024). Apartment and condominium buildings swing the Orlando total. Permits for buildings of five or more units went from 1,037 units in 18 buildings in 2024 to 2,026 units in 31 buildings in 2025.

The Orlando peak in this period was 2020, when 3,385 units in 40 large buildings were permitted (Census permits 2020); 2019 had 2,634 units in all (2019), 2021 had 3,724 (2021), 2022 had 3,515 (2022) and 2023 fell to 2,401 (2023).

Orlando is a small share of regional construction. Across the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metro, 2025 permits covered 14,198 single-family units and 13,463 units in 285 buildings of five or more units (Census metro permits 2025), 27,845 units in total counting 2 to 4 unit buildings (Digital Towns sum), so the City of Orlando accounted for roughly 11 percent.

Orlando and Orange County have nearly the same median home value, $394,100 and $390,100 in the 2020 to 2024 Census survey, but the City of Orlando has far more renters and far more homes in large buildings.

In the 2020 to 2024 survey, 56.8 percent of occupied homes across Orange County were owner-occupied, against 39.5 percent inside the City of Orlando (ACS 2024 DP04, Orange County). Median gross rent was $1,775 countywide and $1,747 in Orlando. Buildings of 20 or more units held 14.4 percent of Orange County homes and 25.1 percent of Orlando homes.

Rent burden is similar on both sides of the Orlando city line: 49.5 percent of Orange County renters paid 35 percent or more of income on rent, close to the Orlando city figure of 48.1 percent. Orange County counted 586,805 housing units in all.

Official Orlando housing data run behind the calendar: the newest FHFA quarter is April to June 2026, the newest annual permit file is 2025 and the newest Census profile averages 2020 to 2024.

None of the three Orlando series measures asking prices, days on market or inventory, and listing data are not used on this page. A permit is also not a finished home; the Orlando permit counts record units authorized, not units completed.

For a single Orlando property, the Orange County Property Appraiser website offers property searches. Its home page lists residential property countywide at $177.59 billion across about 432 thousand parcels, and links a Sales Analysis Tool and a Tax Estimator tool, which it says calculates taxes especially when planning to buy or sell a property (Orange County Property Appraiser). The office is at 200 S. Orange Avenue, Suite 1700, Orlando, phone 407-836-5044.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the FHFA, Census Bureau and Orange County Property Appraiser websites.

The City of Orlando offers a down payment assistance grant for homes inside city limits, and Orange County homeowners can cut taxable value with a homestead exemption of up to $50,000.

To use the Orlando down payment grant, the buyer's mortgage lender or broker must be registered with the City of Orlando, and the city also runs a Housing Rehabilitation Program that helps qualified homeowners with repairs (City of Orlando Housing Assistance Programs). The Orange County Property Appraiser handles the homestead exemption, with a Homestead Online link on its home page, and says it can reduce the taxable value of a homestead by up to $50,000 (OCPA).

With Orlando prices close to flat in the FHFA series and Orlando renters more stretched than five years ago, the city grant helps subsidize the down payment and the homestead exemption lowers the taxable value of an owner's home.