Folks are leaving Miami at a record clip, but others are coming in, too | Real Estate
Too hot? Too crowded? Too many bugs? Heck, too much soccer talk?
Whatever the reason, Miami-Dade County has been losing more residents than it’s been gaining in recent years.
Between 2019 and 2022, Miami-Dade County’s population shrank by nearly 80,000 people, resulting in its first population decline over a multiyear period since 1970, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Incidentally, Florida also took a hit recently in two separate studies.
Florida mansions and yachts.
Surprisingly, Florida fell seven spots, from No. 1 to No. 8, in Bankrate’s listing of “The Best and Worst States to Retire, Ranked.” Iowa is the new No. 1, thanks to its “cost of living, affordable and high-quality healthcare, and low crime rate.”
Another study in May by the moving company SelfStorage revealed that Florida topped the lists of states that Americans want to relocate from — and, actually, move to — according to Google search data.
According to the study, Florida leads with the most residents interested in relocating, with a 152 per 100,000 population search volume.
Expensive rent and insurance, over-valued homes, Hurricane Ian, and politically-motivated legislation – all add to the relo equation.
A destroyed tree after Hurricane Ian.
Florida, which first began gaining popularity as a Top 20 destination state around 1955, became the fastest-growing state between 2021 and 2022, adding some 750,000 new residents. It also was the fastest-growing state back in 1957.
In 2021, however, an estimated 469,577 people moved out of Florida, but 674,740 people relocated to the state. During the pandemic, sunny Florida became a great place to “work from home.”
As far as the exodus in Miami-Dade County?
According to data from the Florida Regional Economic Analysis project, the county’s population nearly doubled between 1970 and 2010. But, between 2020 and 2022, the county absorbed its first population loss since 1970, losing 79,535 people during those years, according to the Brookings Institution.
The cost of living was one significant factor.
The skyline of Miami, Florida at sunset.
According to the online listing site Zillow, the median home value in Miami is a little over $550,000, an increase of close to 8% over the past year. Home prices in Miami have surged by 53% (only Tampa is ahead of that pace) since June 2020.
But, just last week, Zillow also reported the Miami metro as one of the nation’s top areas for “overvalued” homes.
The median home value for Miami-Dade County, as a whole, is now close to $490,000, up by about 7% over the past year, Zillow reports.
Rent costs also are a likely factor.
According to Rent.com’s May 2023 Rent Report, the median rent in Miami was $3,066, well above the national median rent of $1,967.
Three miniature houses on coin stacks of increasing height.
Miami also has the highest share (about 61%) in the U.S. of “cost-burdened renters,” meaning renters who are spending 30% or more of their household income on rent, according to a report published this year from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.
Usually, renters are more likely to migrate than homeowners because moving transaction costs are less costly.
The median income for Miami-Dade County is about $57,815.
By the way, the most popular in-state destinations for those leaving Miami? According to a recent LinkedIn study, it’s Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Orlando, and Jacksonville — all cities where Zillow shows the average home prices are at least $100,000 cheaper than “The Magic City.”
