For the first time in years, it’s cheaper to rent in Miami than in Fort Lauderdale
It’s cheaper to rent in Miami than in Fort Lauderdale, thanks to a glut of apartment units in the Magic City.
Miami’s median rent slid by 9.1% from January 2020 to January 2021, while Fort Laudedale’s median rose by 3%, according to the latest national rent report by the rental listing company Zumper. The result: Miami’s median is at $1,600 per month for a one-bedroom unit, versus $1,690 in Fort Lauderdale.
“Most of the units here are [owned by] investors,” said Valeria Rodriguez, a real estate advisor at Compass. “The only way you are going to rent your unit is if you reduce your price. In Fort Lauderdale, we don’t see that as much,” she said, because fewer investors buy there.
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Nearly a dozen South Florida cities saw rent decreases during 2020 — especially during the fourth quarter, said Neil Gerstein, Zumper’s data analyst. Those with sliding rents included some of Miami’s wealthiest neighborhoods.
Nationwide, high prices are forcing renters out of the biggest cities and into smaller, cheaper ones nearby, Gerstein said by email. That accounts for migration from New York City to Newark, Boston to Providence, and San Francisco to Sacramento.
“Looking at migration patterns on our platform, it does appear that renter interest in leaving Miami is trending upwards, which has a downward effect on rental prices since demand diminishes when renters move away,” Gerstein said by email. “We’ve seen a bit of a demand shift in Miami renters interested in moving to cheaper Floridian cities like St. Petersburg, Orlando or Jacksonville in recent months.”
The price growth in Fort Lauderdale may spur investor interest in the months to come, Rodriguez said.
“When you have investors [from South America] that are looking to buy and rent their units, they always try to do it in Miami,” she said. “Fort Lauderdale is safer, because you have less competition.”
Despite the rent decrease, Miami and Fort Lauderdale remain among the 15 most expensive cities for rent, according to the report. Fort Lauderdale ranked as the 11th most expensive while Miami tied with Long Beach for the 13th spot. Seattle ($1,560 per month), Chicago ($1,540) and Atlanta ($1,480) were all cheaper.
Rents also dipped in the nation’s most expensive cities: San Francisco ($2,680, down 23.9%), New York ($2,350, down 21.7%) and San Jose ($2,130, down 12.7%).
“Everyone wants to live [in South Florida] because of the weather, the beach, lifestyle and because things are open,” Rodriguez said. “Everything is closed in New York and California.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
