Invest In Apartment Buildings In Sunrise, FL

Sawgrass Jobs And Sunrise's Renter Base

Sunrise is a condo-heavy suburb where renters pay a lot relative to income. The city has 11,221 renter households, 31.2% of the total, close to Florida's 32.4%, in a population of 97,918 (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024). Median gross rent in Sunrise is $2,140 a month, well above the state's $1,669 and up 38.1% from $1,550 in the 2015–2019 survey. Median household income rose 41.8% to $77,652, but 66.8% of renters spend 30% or more of income on housing, one of the higher burdens we see. Renter households barely moved, up 0.8%, while employed residents rose 8.3%.

The jobs cluster on the city's west side. Sawgrass International Corporate Park covers 612 acres, and the city calls it South Florida's largest corporate office park. It sits inside the Sawgrass Business and Entertainment District, where the city says more than 30,000 people work. Named tenants include American Express's regional corporate headquarters, a large CIGNA service and operations center, Air France's U.S. reservations center in the Sawgrass Technology Park, and toy maker Jazwares, which is headquartered in Sunrise. Retail and entertainment add service jobs: Sawgrass Mills has about 350 outlet and value stores in almost 2.3 million square feet, and Amerant Bank Arena is home to the Florida Panthers, Stanley Cup champions in 2024 and 2025.

For owners, the result is a broad pool of office, call-center and retail workers who want to live near the Sawgrass district, along with tenants squeezed by high rents. Collections and income screening matter here more than in most markets.

New Supply And Rents In Sunrise

Sunrise already has a dense housing stock and adds to it slowly. It has 17,967 homes in buildings with five or more units, 44.9% of all housing, but that count rose only 1.0% in five years (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024). The median home was built in 1983. Since only 31.2% of households rent, many of those units are owner-occupied condos, and rental listings for individual units along Sunrise Lakes Boulevard show owners renting some of them out. New apartments come in a few large projects. The city lists Vista Verde, 288 units on a former Winn-Dixie site at Pine Island Road and 44th Street, as recently opened, and Sunrise Gardens, 235 units at Oakland Park Boulevard and University Drive, as nearing completion. The Morgan Group and Rockpoint planned Caroline at Sunrise, 452 garden-style apartments and townhomes, with construction scheduled to start in early 2026 and first units in 2027. At Metropica, next to Sawgrass Mills, One Metropica's 263 condos opened in late 2020, and plans call for three more towers with more than 1,000 apartments.

Asking rents have cooled. In October 2026 Apartment List marked Sunrise rents as trending down across every bedroom size, with one-bedrooms averaging about $2,002, and counted 66 listings with move-in specials. The Census rental vacancy rate is 7.6%. It counts rented condos and houses as well as managed complexes, and ACS estimates carry a margin of error, so we treat it as a sign of soft spots, not a precise rate.

HUD's fiscal 2027 two-bedroom fair market rent for the Fort Lauderdale area is $2,321. For apartment syndications in Sunrise, the appeal is a large office and retail job base and a limited pipeline of new rental communities. The checks are softening asking rents, a heavily rent-burdened tenant base, competition from rented condos, and lease-up pressure as Vista Verde, Sunrise Gardens and later Caroline come online.

Sunrise Neighborhoods We Watch

Sunrise's rental options split between newer managed communities on the west side and lower-priced condo rentals and older areas to the east.

How Sunrise Ranks For Apartment Investors

We track 106 Florida cities. Sunrise places 14th for median gross rent, 67th for renter share and 59th for five-year rent growth. That puts its rents near the top of the group, so tenants here are already paying more than in most nearby markets. In raw numbers, Sunrise has about 3,858 more residents, 89 more renter households and 178 more homes in buildings with 5 or more units than in the 2015–2019 survey. New homes in 5+ unit buildings outpaced the growth in renter households, so newer buildings are competing for tenants and older ones may need to offer more to keep them.

Sunrise Compared With Broward County

Sunrise's median gross rent of $2,140 is above the Florida median of $1,669, and its renter share is 31.2% compared with 32.4% statewide.

Rent Versus Income In Sunrise

The median rent in Sunrise works out to $25,680 a year, about 33.1% of the median household income of $77,652. Under the common 30% guideline, a household needs about $85,600 a year to cover that rent comfortably. That's a heavier load than the Florida average of 26.9%. Renters usually earn less than the all-household median, so the real burden for tenants is higher than this simple ratio shows.

Since the 2015–2019 survey, the median rent rose $590 a month ($7,080 a year), while median household income rose $22,890 a year. Income has outpaced rent, which means tenants have a bit more room in their budgets than they did five years ago. HUD's FY2027 Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit, $2,321, is 8.5% above the median gross rent for all unit sizes. That gap matters for buildings that accept Housing Choice Vouchers, since local housing authorities base voucher payment standards on it.

Sunrise Apartment Market Key Facts

Here's the Sunrise rental market in short form, with the source on every figure.

• Sunrise, FL has 97,918 residents, up 4.1% from the 2015–2019 survey (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• Median household income in Sunrise, FL is $77,652, up 41.8% over five years (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• Median gross rent in Sunrise, FL is $2,140 a month, up 38.1% over five years (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• 31.2% of households in Sunrise, FL rent, about 11,221 renter households (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• 44.9% of homes in Sunrise, FL are in buildings with 5 or more units (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• The rental vacancy rate in Sunrise, FL is 7.6%, and 66.8% of renters spend 30% or more of income on rent (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• The median home in Sunrise, FL was built in 1983 (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).

What We Look For In A Sunrise Apartment Building

Our buy box in Sunrise is the same one we use nationwide: 5+ unit apartment buildings, stabilized or in need of work, priced on today's rents. Then we test the property against the local data on this page and a full inspection of its major systems.

Florida has no state income tax on wages, and property taxes are often one of the largest expenses for apartment owners. We underwrite the tax bill after purchase, not the seller's current bill, since a sale often resets the assessment. Florida has no statewide rent control law, though local rules on notices, fees and deposits still apply. Insurance quotes in Florida reflect hurricane and flood exposure, so we get a quote before we make an offer.

Given how fast rents rose here, we assume much slower rent growth going forward and make sure the deal still works if rents stay flat for a while.

Questions To Ask About An Apartment Syndication In Sunrise

The data on this page turns into a short checklist for evaluating an apartment syndication in Sunrise.

• What vacancy does the plan assume? Rental vacancy in Sunrise is 7.6%. A plan that assumes much lower vacancy than the market should explain why.
• What rent growth is underwritten? Rents here rose 38.1% over five years. Ask whether the plan assumes that pace continues, and what happens to the deal if rents stay flat.
• How was the property tax bill estimated? A sale often triggers a reassessment, so the bill after purchase can be well above what the seller pays today.
• How big is the repair reserve? The median home in Sunrise was built in 1983, and even newer buildings need money set aside for roofs, HVAC and appliances.
• How and when does capital come back? Ask what the plan is for a refinance or sale, and what happens if that takes longer than expected.

How Passive Investing In A Sunrise Apartment Syndication Works

Here's the short version. The general partner, in this case Skyline, finds an apartment building in Sunrise, buys it with a loan and investor capital, and runs it. Limited partners supply part of that capital and hold an ownership share, without landlord duties or personal liability for the loan.

It's a long-term commitment. The property has to be refinanced or sold before most capital comes back, and the outcome isn't certain. Eligibility rules vary by offering, and most are limited to accredited investors. See investing with Skyline Capital for how we work with limited partners.

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