Miami Housing More Expensive Than New York City, Report Says

First it was Austin; now it's Miami. There is no longer an undisputed champion of the U.S. housing affordability crisis.

The RealtyHop Affordability Index for February identifies Miami as the least affordable city in the United States, above even New York (#2) and Los Angeles (#3). The report used projected median household income, local property tax data from the American Community Survey, and median for-sale home listing prices via RealtyHop data to create the index.

An article by Katherine Kallergis for the Real Deal provides more insight into the report's findings and context for the city's housing market. According to Kallergis, Miami's soaring housing prices are "propelled by the migration of out-of-state buyers and renters, many of whom have moved from the Northeast," and the relatively slow growth of wages over the same period. 

The for-sale market isn't the only sign of Miami's runaway housing market. In December 2021, a separate report by Zumper estimated that rents were growing faster in Miami than anywhere else in the country. An article by Susannah Cavanaugh shares insight into the Zumper report.

Both the Zumper report and the RealtyHop warrant a caveat about housing price figures that rely on online listings, which can distort their picture of the market, as documented by numerous media observers over the years, including an article by Joe Cortright from 2018.

With those caveats in mind, it's still notable that the list of undisputed "most expensive cities" in the United States is shifting into new corners of the Sunbelt. The RealtyHop report comes just a few months after a Zillow forecast predicted Austin would soon be the most expensive homebuying market ouside California, for example. The runaway housing market has crossed state lines.