Miami-Dade County saw its apartment market surge in 2013, as a tighter supply of rental units continued to command higher rents, according to a new industry report.
The market lept to No. 13 in Marcus & Millichap’s annual ranking of the nation’s top apartment markets. The analysis had Miami-Dade at No. 21 last year. The average rent raised 5 percent last year to $1,191 a month, while the average apartment complex enjoyed about a 97 percent occupancy rate. Denver and Miami tied for the second-steepest upgrade in the report released Monday, with Oakland taking the most-improved prize by jumping from No. 18 to No. 9 on the Marcus & Millichap list.
The real estate boom proved a boon to landlords, since so many apartment owners converted their units to condominiums in order to cash in on the buying craze. And while more builders are launching apartment complexes to chase the higher rents, Marcus & Millichap estimates it would take another 10 years of building at the current pace to get rental inventory back to where it was before the conversion wave. In Broward, the Fort Lauderdale apartment market fell just one spot to 29th place in the report. Rents were up 3.4 percent last year to an average of $1,240 a month. The average occupancy rate was about 95 percent.
Douglas Hank Source: Miami Herald
