Looking for an apartment? Try 11 South Florida cities where rents are slipping
Since the pandemic, locals have been trading sky-high living for sprawling space. To keep them from leaving, landlords have been lowering rents. And rents may go even lower.
Median rents decreased for two-bedroom units between January and September in 11 cities in South Florida, according to the recently published Apartment List suburban rent rebound report. On the list are Coconut Creek, Davie, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Miami Beach, Miami, North Miami Beach, Pembroke Pines, Plantation and Pompano Beach.
Not everyone got a break. Rents slightly increased in Coral Springs and Miramar.
The San Francisco-headquartered company, which provides an online marketplace for apartment listings nationwide, calculated price and population changes from its own apartment listing data and the 2018 U.S. Census American Community Service report. It looked at 30 U.S. metro areas — including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York, and Washington, D.C. — and key cities within each area.
Thanks to remote working and restrictions on amenities including cultural venues and parks, renters are fleeing urban communities, said Chris Salviati, Apartment List housing economist. Many are also seeking green space they can call their own.
“Since the pandemic, there has been less demand for city living,” said Salviati. “When you have people leaving, landlords are going to lower the rent to draw more people.”
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Median rents in Doral dropped the most, from $2,030 to $1,878 per month, or 8.1%. Next was Fort Lauderdale, from $1,372 to $1,316, or 4.2%.
Other cities with declining rents:
▪ Miami, by 4%, from $1,657 to $1,593
▪ Miami Beach, 3.8%, from $2,097 to $2,020
▪ Davie, 2.7%, from $1,498 to $1,458
▪ Hollywood, 2%, from $1,389 to $1,362
▪ Pembroke Pines, 1.8%, from $1,542 to $1,515
▪ Coconut Creek, 1.7%, from $1,722 to $1,693
▪ Pompano Beach, 1.5%, from $1,383 to $1,362
▪ Plantation, 1.2%, from $1,781 to $1,759
▪ North Miami Beach, 0.3%, from $1,474 to $1,470
On the flip side, median rents increased in Coral Springs by 1.2%, from $1,528 to $1,546 and in Miramar by 0.9%, from $1,583 to $1,597, and 1.2% in Coral Springs, from $1,528 to $1,546.
The trend continued in some cities in September, Salviati said. “That indicates that we haven’t hit the bottom.”
Since April, the demand for single-family house rentals has doubled in South Florida. As a result, several — Related, Integra, Neology — are focusing on affordable and workforce housing.
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
