Tampa Housing Market Trends in Official Data

Barely: the federal house price index for the Tampa metropolitan division rose 1.07% in the year to the second quarter of 2026 and fell 0.41% in that quarter alone, a weaker quarter than Florida's 0.18% and the nation's 0.35%.

Those figures come from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's seasonally adjusted, purchase-only index for 2026Q2, which ranks Tampa, FL (MSAD) 181st of 238 metro areas and divisions on one-year change (FHFA HPI datasets). The same table puts the United States at 2.13% for the year and Florida at 0.96%. FHFA describes its indexes as measures of changes in single-family home values.

All rows: FHFA HPI datasets page, metro and state change tables for 2026Q2.

One quirk in the federal page is worth knowing before comparing years. Its explanatory text says an MSA is split into Metropolitan Divisions when it has a single core above 2.5 million people and then lists the divided areas, but the list names Miami and ten other regions and not Tampa, even though the table above reports Tampa and St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo as separate divisions (FHFA).

About 48 percent: the FHFA index for the Tampa division is up 47.80% over five years to 2026Q2, against 33.41% for the United States and 37.47% for Florida.

The same row gives 1.07% for the latest year and 47.80% for the five years to 2026Q2 (FHFA HPI datasets). Since 1991 the Tampa division index is up 437.49%, above the national 335.69% but below Florida's 447.45% and the neighboring St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo division's 523.23% (FHFA).

FHFA also sets a floor for what it publishes in rows such as the Tampa division's: a metropolitan area or division needs at least 1,000 total transactions before its index appears (FHFA).

The median owner-occupied home in the city of Tampa was valued at $420,400 in the ACS 2020-2024 5-year survey, with a margin of error of plus or minus $8,438, compared with $371,500 for Hillsborough County as a whole.

In the same Tampa table, 27.9% of owner-occupied homes were valued between $500,000 and $999,999 (Census ACS DP04, Tampa). The county median comes from the matching Hillsborough County table (Census ACS DP04, Hillsborough County).

Ownership itself is less common in the city than in its county. Owners occupy 50.3% of Tampa's occupied housing units, against 61.5% countywide (ACS Tampa, ACS Hillsborough). The homeowner vacancy rate in Tampa is 1.8%, above the county's 1.1% (ACS Tampa).

Median gross rent in Tampa was $1,701 a month in the ACS 2020-2024 5-year data, plus or minus $27, slightly above the Hillsborough County median of $1,667.

Nearly half of Tampa renters spend heavily on rent: 46.7% of renter households whose ratio can be computed pay 35% or more of household income in gross rent (Census ACS DP04, Tampa). The county share is 47.7% (ACS DP04, Hillsborough County).

Rental vacancy is 5.8% in Tampa and 6.4% in Hillsborough County (ACS Tampa, ACS Hillsborough).

Tampa's median home value is about 5.6 times its median household income of $75,475 in the ACS 2020-2024 5-year data, and owners with a mortgage report median monthly costs of $2,179.

The income figure, plus or minus $1,872, comes from the Census economic profile for the city (Census ACS DP03, Tampa); the ratio divides the $420,400 median value by it. Owners without a mortgage report median costs of $640 a month (Census ACS DP04, Tampa).

The same table records when Tampa householders moved in. Of occupied housing units, 8.2% had a householder who moved in during 2023 or later and 28.0% moved in during 2020 to 2022 (ACS Tampa), so more than a third of Tampa householders moved into their current home in 2020 or later.

In the City of Tampa tax district the 2025 final millage totals 19.8428 mills, or $1,984.28 for each $100,000 of taxable value, of which the city's own operating rate is 6.2076 mills.

The Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's final 2025 millage sheet gives a count of 143,969 for the City of Tampa district, coded TA, and breaks the total into county, school, port, transit, children's board and water management levies along with the city rate (HCPA 2025 final millage). The city's own budget confirms the 6.2076 rate: Tampa adopted 6.2076 mills for FY 2018 after more than 30 years without an increase, and the recommended FY 2027 budget keeps 6.2076 mills (City of Tampa FY2027 Recommended Budget). Taxable value is not market value: for a homestead, the homestead assessment amendment to the state constitution, known as Amendment 10, approved by Florida voters in 1992 and in effect in 1995, holds annual increases in assessed value to 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less (HCPA homestead assessment limit).

That cap does not travel with a Tampa house. The Property Appraiser notes that the limitation does not apply the year following a change of ownership (HCPA); once a home is conveyed, it is raised to full market value on January 1 of the following year, and the new owner must apply for a homestead exemption of their own (HCPA).

Yes, mostly in larger buildings: the city of Tampa permitted 2,818 housing units in 2025, 1,856 of them in 16 buildings with five or more units, plus 948 one-unit buildings.

The one-unit permits carried a total value of $556,848,684, about $587,000 per unit, and the 5-plus unit buildings $434,952,136, in the Census Building Permits Survey annual file for Tampa (Census Building Permits Survey 2025). Fourteen more units were in seven two-unit buildings.

Against a stock of 182,425 housing units, 2.9% of Tampa's units were built in 2020 or later and 15.0% from 2010 to 2019 in the ACS 2020-2024 5-year survey (Census ACS DP04, Tampa). The 2026 permit counts and the city permit process are covered in the Tampa new construction guide.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, by refetching the FHFA 2026Q2 change tables, three Census ACS 2020-2024 profile tables for Tampa and Hillsborough County, the Census 2025 permits file, two Property Appraiser pages and the city's FY2027 recommended budget.