Miami-Dade Dominates as the Most Competitive Multifamily Market in the Nation this Year

Miami-Dade County maintained its position as the nation’s “most competitive” apartment market this year, leading in the number of prospective tenants contending for available units, according to a recent report by RentCafe.
On average, 22 renters competed for the same apartment in Miami-Dade, surpassing the national average of nine renters vying for a unit. The leasing duration for a vacant unit in Miami-Dade was approximately a month, a week faster than the national average of 38 days, as revealed by the RentCafe study.
The heightened competition for units can be attributed partly to existing tenants choosing to renew their leases instead of relocating, with 71.2 percent opting for lease renewals.
These findings coincide with a robust multifamily construction boom that contributed to a 3.7 percent increase in Miami-Dade’s housing supply this year, according to RentCafe. Developers completed nearly 13,400 units across South Florida in the first three quarters, surpassing the 13,210 apartments finished in the entire previous year, according to data from brokerage Lee & Associates.
While the increased supply did not fully alleviate the demand for units, it did help moderate the record rental hikes witnessed from late 2020 to last year. In the third quarter, the average monthly asking rent in the tri-county region was $2,121, marking a 1 percent increase from the same period the previous year, as per data from Lee & Associates.
This factor represents a significant slowdown compared to the substantial rent growth experienced in recent years. In May of the previous year, South Florida rents rose by 45.8 percent year-over-year, according to Realtor.com.
Miami-Dade also retained its status as the nation’s “most competitive” rental market from the previous year, with an average of 32 renters competing for the same unit. The national average in the prior year was 14 tenants vying for the same unit.
In the current RentCafe report, North Shore, New Jersey, claimed the second spot as the “most competitive” market, with an average of 14 prospective tenants competing for available units. North Shore experienced a 2 percent increase in its apartment supply this year.