Miami Is the Least Affordable City in the US

The city surpassed New York and Los Angeles as the least affordable US city to buy a home when comparing the cost of housing to the median household income.

We already know that buying or renting a house in Florida is almost an impossible mission because of the high cost and low supply of housing.

To make matters worse, according to recently compiled data from RealtyHop, Miami has become the least affordable housing market in the United States when comparing the cost of buying a home to the median household income.

The RealtyHop Housing Affordability Index analyzed the least and most affordable housing markets in the 100 most populous cities in the US using proprietary RealtyHop and US Census data.

The findings show Miami surpassed New York and Los Angeles, which have been taking turns as the least affordable US cities to buy a home for years.

The pandemic seems to be the culprit. Miami has long been an expensive housing market, especially celebrities’ waterside mansions and luxury high-rise condos, but in the two past years, the pandemic has attracted to the state an influx of wealthy buyers, which mainly are workers in the finance and tech sectors who now work virtually.

The situation has resulted in putting more pressure on the housing market and worsening the gap between very wealthy and middle-income earners.

According to the data, in February 2022, the median asking price for a home in Miami reached $589,000, which represents a 13.5% annual increase. According to RealtyHop’s analysis, the median income in Miami is $43,401, which means a family would have to spend nearly 80% of their household earnings on mortgage and property tax payments to afford the median home listed today.

Democrat lawmakers have unsuccessfully urged Gov. Ron DeSantis to do something to stop the rise in home prices.