Apartment rental market strong and stable

Local real estate experts are still predicting the Miami residential rental market will remain strong but say it has stabilized.

Overall, the market is still strong and it varies by submarket, said Johnny De La Espriella, senior vice president of operations for RKW Residential.

“A couple of data points are that rents are not growing in the historical levels they were in 2021 and 2022 but they certainly still are growing,” he said. “On average, we are seeing rents go up about 12% still year-over-year for 2023.”

The rental market is stabilized and is in a good occupancy standpoint, Mr. De La Espriella added. “There’s a lot of construction in downtown, Wynwood, Midtown area, and the Coral Gables and South Miami markets are also doing very well.”

In January, 31,947 homes in Miami-Dade County were listed as rentals. The median rental rate for a one-bedroom home was $2,330, a two-bedroom was going for a median rate of $2,900 and three-bedrooms were listed at around $3,600, according to a Miami Association of Realtors update-to-date statistics data report for the Miami rental market.

December 2022 closed out with 19,168 active rental home listings in Miami. A one-bedroom median rental rate was going for $2,200, a two-bedroom for $2,752 and three-bedroom rates were around $3,436, according to the association’s Miami rental market data report.

As rental prices increase in core markets, a new trend sees development in more affordable submarkets, Mr. De La Espriella said.

“We are seeing a lot more development in Hialeah, Homestead and Miami Gardens that we typically didn’t see before,” he explained. “All these areas are growing because they are central locations and more affordable when comparing it to the core areas.”

Miami remains one of the most desirable places to live in the US, said Matthew Jacocks, principal for Lee & Associates South Florida.

“That’s due to taxes, lifestyle and even baby boomers moving here because of the weather. There are also more people and businesses moving here from states like New York,” he said, “and with high-interest rates, home prices are out of reach for a lot of people who are going to be renting unless they’re cash buyers, which obviously, there are not a lot of.”

A lot of rental buildings are waiving and lowering the cost of moving in for people who have good credit, Mr. Jacocks said.

Out of the roughly 32,000 available rentals in January, the Miami Association of Realtors reported about 3.5% offered incentives to attract renters, which may include a free month of rent and even gift cards.

“I just think rents pretty much stabilized,” Mr. Jacocks said. “Now, we have jumped into a plateau and we’re going have typical inflationary increases on an annual basis.”