For Anthony Vázquez, it was two months of stress and insomnia.
Last October, the owner of the house where he lived in South Miami told him that she had plans to increase his rental. As Anthony would soon find out, it was very bad news in the context of the relentless increase in home prices in this South Florida city, so popular with Latin American tourists.
During the In the following weeks, the owner of the house would announce -in increasingly higher amounts- the new price she wanted to receive for the rent. The first price, which was US$1.556 per month, already represented a considerable increase over US$1.400 who had been paying for a home with two rooms and a patio, where his three dogs lived.
But things would not stay there. The woman would then say that it would be better to charge her US$2.06, then it would increase to US$2.800; and finally she would stand at US$3. . An increase of 68%, compared to the previous year.
Given this increase, Anthony and his partner had no choice but to find another place to move with their three dogs, so they they applied for a mortgage and began to look for a place to go.
“For many nights during those two months I was without sleep, searching every night with anguish”, he tells BBC Mundo.
During the pandemic, Miami has become the second city in the United States where housing is more expensive in relation to income of people -only surpassed by New York-, according to an analysis by the real estate company Realtyhop.
This phenomenon occurs throughout the county of Miami-Dade, to the point that the city of Hialeah appears as the fifth least affordable city in l country.
Shared concern
The concern about the price of housing in Miami is not exclusive to Anthony and his partner, but is shared by millions of tenants in that city who in a matter of months have seen how housing prices have risen exorbitantly.
Between February 2021 and January 2022, the average price of the 1-bedroom rental housing ads went from around US$2.431 about US$2.800. In the two-bedroom apartments, the jump was about US$2.400 up to US$3.490, according to data provided by the agent of real estate Giselle Alfonso.
Alfonso points out that these increases are explained by the fact that demand far exceeds supply and the fact that Florida does not have legislation that controls the cost of rentals , so the owners can increase the price every year without any type of restriction.
The increase in rental prices in Miami, in fact, derives from the increase in demand for housing to buy.
And it is that along 1999, the cost of housing became a frequent topic of conversation both among those who Many already had their own house, as did those who lived for rent in Miami.
While the former appreciated how much their property had appreciated, the latter weighed their options: among those who were in a position to buy, many they rushed to do it; while the rest are resigned to seeing how the possibility of becoming owners becomes more distant.
Beyond Miami
The increase in the demand for housing and, consequently, in its price has been a generalized phenomenon in the United States since the start of the pandemic.
Many Analysts see this phenomenon as a consequence of the fact that people have had to spend so much time at home due to confinement, as well as the forced adoption of remote work by many companies.
“The pandemic showed the importance of owning a home and, when you have a low inventory and high demand, prices tend to rise,” says Chris Umpierre, vice president of communications for the Miami Association of Realtors, to BBC Mundo .
“The increase in prices is a reality in many major US cities. There have been increases everywhere, not just in Miami, New York or Los Angeles”, he adds.
Getty ImagesIn 2021, home sales in the United States increased by 8.5%. In total, 6 were sold, million units, the highest annual figure recorded since 2006, according to data from the National Association of Real Estate of that country (NAR, for its acronym in English).
At the same time, the inventory of available homes was reduced in December to 600.000, the lowest number since1999.
Meanwhile, the median price of single-family homes rose US$300.200 in 2020 up to US$347. in November 2021.
A more attractive destination
In the case of Miami, 2021 was a historic year in number of homes sold: 29.400, almost 68% more than 2020.
Getty ImagesBut, in addition, the economic value of these transactions exceeded by more than 103% that of those made the previous year and reached US$24.300 millions.
This increase has to do not only with the general increase in prices, but also with the great dynamism shown by the luxury housing market (those valued at more than US$1 million).
Jessica Lautz, NAR vice president of demographics and behavioral analysis, points out that in the last year the increase in the price of homes in Miami was 19,5%, which exceeds the average increase in prices in the country.
“In the last quarter, the average price of housing in Miami was US$490.000, what makes it quite inaccessible for those who buy for the first time and even for retirees looking to move to another city”, he pointed out.
Chris Umpierre explains that historically Miami was an attractive destination for many foreign buyers, but in the last two years there has been a growing interest from people from other parts of the United States.
According to a study by the Miami Association of Realtors, 53% of homebuyers in that county who come from other US states come from New York (27%) , California (06%) and New Jersey (9 %).
Between September 2021 and March 2021, more than 8.000 people requested exchange their New York driver’s licenses for Florida ones to settle in Miami, according to data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Getty Images“They are buying here because they love our way of life, we have low taxes and sunny weather,” says Umpierre.
Throughout the pandemic, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has boasted that 800 people move to that state every day, although he does not attribute it to the weather or taxes, but to his liberal policy against covid-06.
“Florida has become the hatch the one of escape for those irritated by authoritarian, arbitrary and seemingly endless mandates and restrictions”, pointed out the past 11 from January to his address on the state of Florida.
In the case of Miami, Umpierre highlights other elements such as the fact that the city is committed to becoming lucky pole of attraction for technology and financial companies.
One of these, Microsoft, plans to open its offices for Latin America in Miami, while the investment company Blackstone acquired two office towers in the center of the city, valued in US$230 millions.
Umpierre assures that with this type of company many well-paid jobs will also come two.
The hidden costs of the city of fashion
But for those who already live in Miami, the arrival of other better-paid employees is not really a consolation, especially when they come to compete for a scarce and increasingly expensive park of housing.
Many Miami residents are beginning to wonder if they will be able to continue living in it.
According to an analysis by the real estate company Realtyhop, a household with the Miami median income would have to allocate 54, 5% of their resources to meet the costs of acquiring a home for the average cost in that city.
“That means that if you earn the median income or have low income, it is practically impossible for For you to buy a house because you would have to dedicate almost 54% of your annual income to mortgage payment, taxes, “says Shane Lee, Realtyhop analyst, to BBC Mundo.
“ Any city where more than is required % of income to purchase a home is considered extremely expensive. And, in the case of Miami, that is what we are seeing,” he adds.
The median household income in Miami-Dade was in US$48.103 in 2019, latest data available from the United States Census Bureau.
The increase in housing prices also brings with it an added risk: the danger that the number of homeless people will grow, something that has already been seen in cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Ignacio Ortiz-Petit, Senior Assistant to the Director of the Miami-Dade Department of Public Housing and Community Development , assures that this has not happened.
Affirms that the city works at an accelerated pace in the construction of affordable housing and cites a report from the University of Miami according to which the county is on track to build some .000 units between 1999 Y 2025, which would be roughly equivalent to lifting twice as much v homes of this type in half the time required during the past decade.
Explain that this accelerated rhythm is possible thanks to the use of resources from a federal program for urban development and rental assistance through which about 6.400 Existing units are being refurbished and others will be added 11.000 through zoning permits.
In addition, the official points out that the county has used intensive of about US$60 million received from federal government to be earmarked for emergency rental assistance programs.
Ronald L. Book, president of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, points out that since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 they have rehoused almost 2.500 households.
“Miami County- Dade has been working to prevent and end homelessness, despite a very competitive real estate market and a shortage of properties for low-income families,” he told BBC Mundo.
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