Affordable Rentals crisis in Miami worsens, study says

Miami had the lowest number of affordable apartments among the largest metro areas. 

Miami was once again the least affordable major metro area for renters in the nation over the past year,

According to a study by the New York University Furman Centers for Real Estate & Urban policy with Capital one.

This is the second year in a row that the National Affordable Rental Housing Landscape study put Miami at the bottom for affordability among the 11 largest metro areas.  Only 15 percent of recently available rental units in the city were affordable to median-income renters in 2014, down from 32 percent in 2013. 

The study says Miami has 2 million renters.  Most of them lived in apartments, but 31 percent were renting single-family homes. 

While rents are higher in New York City and San Francisco, so are salaries. The study found 22 percent and 31 percent of available apartments were affordable apartments was Dallas at 50 percent, followed by Houston at 48 percent. 

Median monthly rent in Miami was about $150 higher than the average for the 11 metro areas, but the median annual salary of $34,000 was $1,500 lower, the study found.

When considering the national median salaries, 17 percent of recently available rentals in Miami were affordable in 2014. 

The NYU study noted that the population grew faster than new apartment stock in all 11 metro areas.   Yet, the new apartment development was mostly aimed at the luxury market.

“such a scarcity of affordable units prevents household from moving to units that might suit them better, forcing them to remain in units that are too small, too big, too far from work, or too expensive for their current situation,” the NYU study said. 

Miami also had the most residents who struggled to afford their current rent, the study found.  It said 64 percent of residents were rent burdened, paying at least 30 percent of their household income for rent.  That includes 35 percent of people who were severely rent burdened, forking over half of their income to their landlords.  That’s slightly worse than the figures from 2006, when the real estate bubble was near its peak.

“High rent burdens leaves less money for families to spend on food, transportation, health care and other necessary expenses,” the NYU study said. 

Original content South Florida Business Journal