Miami home prices may seem astronomical to locals, but they’re a bargain to foreigners

By Rob Wile

Updated August 5, 2019 12:59 PM

Priced out of Paradise: City in Transition

Miami-Dade is the most expensive metro in the U.S. for renters and one of the costliest for home buyers. This series explains why that’s so and what it means for the region and its residents. Our interactive tool helps renters and buyers match their budgets to affordable neighborhoods. Future stories will explore solutions to South Florida’s housing crisis.

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Miami has long attracted North Americans escaping the cruelty of winter. But in the past decade, it has also become a playground for art aficionados, foodies and boaters from around the globe — in part because of its relative value.

While the going rate of $875 per square foot in Miami Beach may seem astronomical to a local resident earning the annual household median income of $50,000, it’s a bargain when compared with Monte Carlo’s $4,634 square-foot price. For those considering a pied-a-terre far from the winter gloom of London, where central city real estate is selling for $2,515 per square foot, Miami is a deal even without factoring in the weather.

That analysis comes from EWM Realty. Said its president, Ron Shuffield: “Potential buyers from other global cities who are currently considering the purchase of a primary or secondary residence in Miami see us as a great value in comparison with residential prices within their home cities. While the diversity of our hometown was a challenge 40 years ago, the wonderful international blend of our community today has become one of our greatest strengths.”

Douglas Elliman-Knight Frank Residential agrees. “Miami offers relatively good value on a global scale compared with London, New York or Hong Kong,” said Liam Bailey, global head of residential research at Elliman partner Knight Frank LLP, in an interview. “It’s priced at about 50 percent of where the top tier in those other cities are.”

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JUNE 05, 2019

In its 2019 wealth report, the firm found that $1 million would get you 1,001 square feet of prime property in Miami. The report defines it as “the most desirable and most expensive property in a given location” — or the top 5 percent of the sales market.

Even for renters, Miami stacks up well.

The median Magic City household pays 37 percent of its income toward rent in international comparisons, according to U.S. Census data. Parisians pay 46 percent, Londoners pay 40 percent, and Singaporeans pay 44 percent, according to data compiled by Rent Cafe, a real estate website.

And if you exclude housing, Miami rates even more favorably. In its 2018 international cost comparison of cities, UBS ranked Miami third best on purchasing power, behind Los Angeles and Zurich, Switzerland.

UBS ranked Miami 23rd best on a comparison of local prices compared to benchmark New York. UBS found that the cost of living in Miami is 25 percent less than the cost of living in Manhattan — better than Tokyo, Tel Aviv, and just a bit ahead of Toronto, which ranked 31st.

When it comes to the world’s most expensive cities, Miami falls at 71, according to the 2019 Worldwide Cost of Living Report by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Tied for first place were Singapore, Paris and Hong Kong; followed by Zurich and Geneva, Switzerland; Osaka, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; Copenhagen, Denmark; New York, Tel Aviv, and Los Angeles.

Most expensive cities, 2019

CITY	COUNTRY	RANK
Singapore	Singapore	1
Paris	France	1
Hong Kong	China	1
Zurich	Switzerland	4
Geneva	Switzerland	5
Osaka	Japan	5
Seoul	South Korea	7
Copenhagen	Denmark	7
New York	USA	7
Tel Aviv	Israel	10
Los Angeles	USA	10
Miami	USA	71