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The wave of New Yorkers migrating to Miami has had an unfortunate side effect on the city, that is, driving rents up to NYC levels. Deborah Acosta reports for The Wall Street Journal:
Natalia Solar moved to a 49-story luxury tower in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood two years ago. She and a roommate paid $3,300 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in a building with an Equinox fitness club, rooftop pool, and 24-hour concierge service.
She renewed the following year for $3,500. Then when her lease expired earlier this year, the landlord delivered some shocking news: He was doubling the rent to $7,000 a month.
Ms. Solar looked at other apartments in the building, but every two-bedroom condo available for rent was going for $6,000 to $7,000. Even with the recent pay raise from a law firm where she works as a paralegal, she couldn’t afford those prices and is moving out of the building.
“We’re getting pushed out by these people who aren’t native Miamians,” she said. “It’s happening with everyone I know that’s renting.”
Miami-area apartment rents have soared 58% over the past two years through March, the fastest rate of any U.S. metro area, according to Realtor.com. That compares with a 19% average national rental increase over that period.
But in some of Miami’s most desirable neighborhoods, like Brickell, Edgewater and Downtown, rents have surged much more than that. For at least a dozen high-end buildings in these hot spots, individual condo owners leasing their apartments have asked for rents at double last year’s price, according to real-estate agents and tenants.
Those quantum leaps reflect the recent migration of so many finance and technology professionals pouring into Miami, drawn by Florida’s year-round warm weather, lower taxes and what newcomers say is a more business-friendly environment than in places like California or New York.
Many of these new Miami residents have high-paying jobs and are used to significantly higher rents in expensive West Coast and Northeast cities, making even the steepest Miami rents seem reasonable.
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