Selling an apartment building in Tampa (Hillsborough County)

If you own an apartment building in Tampa and you are weighing a sale, here is what the record says buildings like yours sold for, what a Tampa buyer is going to underwrite, and how the sale works. My numbers are county level, so they cover all of Hillsborough County, Tampa included.

What Tampa apartment buildings sell for

I track every recorded arm's-length sale of a Florida apartment parcel with five or more units. In Hillsborough County, the median sale price per unit in 2025 was $133,125 on 58 sales. A few years for context:

• 2005: $51,727 a unit on 160 sales
• 2015: $59,888 a unit on 17 sales
• 2019: $91,875 a unit on 38 sales
• 2022: $142,262 a unit on 56 sales
• 2023: $149,028 a unit on 32 sales
• 2025: $133,125 a unit on 58 sales

Here is how I read it. Tampa prices more than doubled from $59,888 a unit in 2015 to the $149,028 peak in 2023, the highest yearly median in the county's record. Since then the median has come back about 11%, and 2025 sits 6% below 2022. Hillsborough is one of the Florida counties where 2025 came in lower than 2022, while Duval County kept rising (see selling an apartment building in Jacksonville).

The good news is that volume came back. Sales fell to 32 in 2023 and recovered to 58 in 2025. Buyers are active in Tampa. They are just paying for the income they can verify, not the 2023 number.

For a statewide comparison, the Florida median in 2025 was $157,143 a unit, so the typical Hillsborough building traded about 15% below it. The full picture is in 30 years of Florida apartment prices per unit.

Two cautions. A median mixes whatever sold that year, so it is a price level, not an appraisal of your building. And Hillsborough's record has a thin stretch: from 2009 to 2013 the county logged only 3 to 6 qualifying sales a year, too few for the median to mean much, which is why I skip those years here. The record volume year was 2005, with 160 sales. The full year-by-year Hillsborough table, every year since 1995 with sale counts, is in the county report I send by email. You can request the Hillsborough County report here, or start with the Hillsborough County market page.

Tampa rents since COVID

On the Zillow Observed Rent Index, Hillsborough County rent was $1,357 a month in February 2020 and $1,992 in August 2026, up 47%. The peak was $2,014 in May 2025, so today's rent is 1.1% below it, and over the last twelve months it was down 0.8%. In yearly averages: $1,333 a month in 2019, $1,894 in 2022 and $1,998 in 2025. Nearly all of the increase came in 2021 and 2022, and Tampa rents have been flat to slightly down since. Zillow's index covers houses as well as apartments, so treat it as the direction of the market, not the rent for your unit. Every county is compared in Florida rents since COVID, county by county.

Flat rent against expenses that reset higher is the squeeze in one sentence. It is why Tampa prices came off their 2023 high even though rents did not fall much.

HUD rents in Tampa

HUD's fiscal year 2027 Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom in Hillsborough County is $1,917, up 51% from $1,271 in FY2021. The same figure applies to Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando. That is only $75 under the August 2026 Zillow all-homes average for the county, and Zillow's figure includes houses. For an older building with two-bedroom units, a voucher tenant at the housing authority's payment standard can pay close to market. If your voucher rents were set years ago, ask for the increase at renewal. The full county list is in HUD Fair Market Rents in Florida for 2027.

Price to rent: Tampa has cooled

Divide the median price per unit by a year of average county rent and you get a rough gross multiple. In Hillsborough it was about 5.7 times annual rent in 2019, about 6.3 times in 2022, and about 5.6 times in 2025. Statewide, the same measure was 6.64 in 2025. So a Tampa buyer is paying less for each dollar of rent than in 2022 and less than the statewide average. Your building is not cheaper because Tampa got worse. It is cheaper because buyers now price in the expenses that rose alongside the rent.

What Tampa buyers underwrite

Buyers and their lenders pay for the building they will own, at their costs, not the one you have been running at yours. In Hillsborough County that means:

• Insurance at today's quote. I underwrite Florida apartment insurance at about $950 a door inland and $1,350 and up near the coast, against about $400 when I started in 2013. Roof age, construction and distance to the water decide where a building lands. More in what Florida apartment insurance costs now.
• Taxes reset at the sale. Florida caps yearly increases in the assessed value of non-homestead property at 10%, so a long-held building is often taxed on a value well below its price. When it sells, the county reassesses it toward the sale price. I estimate the new bill at about 80% of the price times Hillsborough's millage, and careful buyers do the same. See property tax reassessment after a sale.
• Maintenance and management at market. I use about $700 a unit for maintenance and 7% for third-party management, even if you self-manage, because the buyer's lender will.
• Debt at today's rates. The 10-year Treasury was about 5.2% in early October 2026, and the Federal Reserve raised its target range to 3.75% to 4% in September. Lenders size loans off your net income at those rates, so a higher rate means a smaller loan.

Put a market cap rate on the income that is left, and that is your price. Small Florida buildings like the ones I sell generally trade around a 7% to 8.5% cap. My full method is in how much is my apartment building worth.

How a Hillsborough County sale works

The steps are the same in Tampa as anywhere in Florida: price it from the income, build the package before the first buyer call (rent roll, trailing twelve months, leases, tax bill, insurance policy), market it to the buyers who actually close, vet those buyers harder than their offers, and clear the surprises before due diligence. A financed deal usually runs 60 to 90 days from contract to closing. Every step is in how to sell an apartment building in Florida.

Before you sign a listing, talk to your CPA about what you keep. A building owned for decades can carry a large federal capital gains and depreciation recapture bill; my notes are in capital gains tax on a Florida apartment sale. Then decide whether a straight sale, a 1031 exchange or seller financing fits you.

Looking for an apartment broker in Tampa?

I am a licensed Florida broker and have sold apartment buildings since 2013, first at Marcus & Millichap and on my own since 2018. I work Hillsborough County along with every other Florida county except Volusia and Brevard. My terms are simple: a one-page listing agreement, 90 days, and a 4% commission paid only at closing. I price every building the way a buyer's bank will, so the number survives due diligence.

Your building is not the average. Your Apartment Tracker shows the recorded sales and rents around your own building, next to your number. See my number.

Questions owners ask

What do apartment buildings sell for in Tampa?

In 2025, the median recorded sale price for an apartment building in Hillsborough County was $133,125 per unit, across 58 arm's-length sales of buildings with five or more units. That compares with $91,875 in 2019 and a peak of $149,028 in 2023. Your building's price depends on its own income and expenses, not the median.

Are Tampa apartment prices going down?

They have come off the peak. The Hillsborough County median per unit was $149,028 in 2023 and $133,125 in 2025, about 11% lower. Sales volume recovered over the same stretch, from 32 sales in 2023 to 58 in 2025, so buildings are trading, at prices built on today's expenses.

How much have rents gone up in Tampa since COVID?

On the Zillow Observed Rent Index, Hillsborough County rent went from $1,357 a month in February 2020 to $1,992 in August 2026, up 47%. Rent peaked at $2,014 in May 2025 and is 1.1% below that now. Over the 12 months to August 2026 it was down 0.8%.

What is the HUD fair market rent for a 2-bedroom in Tampa?

For HUD's fiscal year 2027, which began October 1, 2026, the two-bedroom Fair Market Rent for Hillsborough County is $1,917 a month, up 51% from $1,271 in FY2021. Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando share the same figure.

How long does it take to sell an apartment building in Tampa?

Budget two to four months once an honestly priced building is on the market: a few weeks to draw offers, then 60 to 90 days from contract to closing on a financed deal, faster with cash. Add time up front if your books need cleanup.

I price Tampa buildings the way a buyer's lender will, which is what you should expect when you hire an apartment broker. Call me at 321-275-KING and I will tell you what a Hillsborough County buyer will believe about your numbers.