Having trouble finding an affordable rental property on the island or the Miami area? You’re certainly not alone.
According to the latest Annual Rent Report from Zumper, Inc., the largest privately owned rental platform in North America, the median monthly rent just for a one-bedroom apartment increased by 38.29% in Miami, to $2,280, over the past year — the highest increase in the country.
The national average increase was 11.6%.
Monica Steinmuller, a 25-year resident of Key Biscayne who has spent 13 years as an agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate on the island, is not surprised.
“Rent prices have gone up, for sure,” she said. “I don’t think you can get anything like that (price) around here. First of all, there’s not that many (one-bedroom living quarters) out here. The Key Biscayne inventory is low; they just didn’t build them for that size.
A sampling on realtor.com shows one-bedroom studio apartments in Miami as small as 435 square feet renting for $1,767, while a three-bedroom studio apartment can fetch up to $5,680 a month on apartmentfinder.com. The price of a similar studio apartment at Miami’s Panorama Tower, the tallest residential tower south of New York, can climb to $9,590 a month, although no rentals are currently available, the website shows.
With high demand and fierce competition among renters — and the fact that 661 “net” new residents are moving to Florida each day, according to the U.S. Census — it’s hardly any wonder that five of the top 10 cities with the highest rent increases in the Zumper report are in the Sunshine State. Tampa is second, while Orlando is third.
They are just ahead of New York City, ranked fourth with a 32.4% increase, but at $3,199 has the highest median rent for one-bedroom apartments among top 10 cities.
Nationally, rent prices for new leases rose a record 13.9% overall in November, according to housing site RealPage.
At $2,280 for the median rental price of a one-bedroom unit, Miami ranks fifth in the country behind New York City, San Francisco, Boston and San Jose, Calif. (Fort Lauderdale is 10th with a median price of $2,020).
According to the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty Insight Report from the third quarter, rentals by far were the most popular housing choice in South Florida, but still in short supply.
On Sept. 30, for example, there were 3,182 homes and condos available to rent across Miami-Dade County through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), compared with 12,563 at that time last year, a decrease of 75%.
The report also showed the average price per square foot had increased 18% over the past 12 months, from $2.56 to $3.02 per square foot, per month.
According to the Zumper report, Miami rental prices for one-bedroom units had actually fallen 10.1% between March of 2020 (when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold) and January 2021, but then soared 38.2% this year as restrictions were loosened.
“This is what supply and demand is all about,” said Ron Shuffield, president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty, whose company has accounted for almost $4 billion in sales this past year across South Florida.
The basic rule of thumb for renting is most landlords require a tenant to have an income of at least three times the monthly rent. So, if you earn $2,800 per month before taxes, for example, you could comfortably afford to rent an apartment for $840 a month.
An analysis by Apartment Advisor showed amenities likely lead to increased rental costs, such as: a fitness center (10% added to your rent); a washer-dryer (8%); a swimming pool (8%); a balcony (7%); a garage (6%); and an air-conditioning unit (2%).
Google searches for “rent relief” spiked 400% from 2020-2021, according to recent data from Point2Homes, and “eviction moratorium” rose 396% over the same period.
“The market is the market, and there’s nothing as Realtors we can do about that,” said Steinmuller, who offers some valuable advice to prospective renters.
“Get a Realtor to help you,” she said. “If you try to do it on your own, you’ll be out of luck. The Realtor doesn’t cost you, as a tenant. The commission is paid by the landlord. So, basically, it’s a free service (for renters) rather than trying to do it themselves.”
Zumper’s Top 10 cities with rental increase (noting the median monthly increase over last year, and median price)
- Miami … 38.29% … $2,280
- Tampa … 38.1% … $1,630
- Orlando … 32.8% … $1,620
- New York, NY … 32.4% … $3,190
- Glendale, Ariz. … 27.7% …$1,200
- Jacksonville … 27.1% … $1,220
- Henderson, Nev. … 25.2% … $1,590
- Boise, Idaho … 24.8% … $1,410
- Mesa, Ariz. … 24.7% … $1,210
- St. Petersburg … 24.4% … $1,580
