Miami and Palm Beach wage growth outpaces housing costs in Q2, but not Broward: report

Despite signs of unaffordability, South Florida’s wage growth is still outpacing the rising cost of buying a home — except in Broward County.

According to a new report from real estate research firm RealtyTrac, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties saw wages grow faster than the median cost to buy a home in the second quarter, albeit not by much. Housing costs in Broward, however, far outpaced rising income.

To gauge affordability, the report compares how much of an average worker’s weekly salary would have to go toward payments on a 30-year fixed mortgage with a 3 percent down payment on a home.

The median cost to buy a home in Miami-Dade rose 3 percent to $237,050 year-over-year, all while average weekly wages grew 4 percent to $1,041 in the same timeframe. According to the report, those figures mean the average Joe would have to spend 35.9 percent of his income on housing payments.

In Palm Beach, median prices for a home hit $225,000, an increase of 6 percent year-over-year. Average weekly wages there also rose by 7 percent to $1,081. That breaks down to about 33.7 of a person’s average income that would be spent on housing.

The report painted a much different picture in Broward: the county’s median cost for a home spiked 12 percent year-over-year to $210,000, while average weekly wages rose only 6 percent to $1,018. Though Broward’s rates of growth for the second quarter were far apart, the county still showed South Florida’s most favorable payment rate with 33 percent of a buyer’s income going to housing costs.

This report analyzes data for all three of South Florida’s counties in aggregate, which means all of their diverse neighborhoods and municipalities are included in the calculations. So while buying a home in downtown Miami is quickly becoming more expensive, the cost of a home in more suburban areas like Davie and Tamarac help round out the figures. — Sean Stewart-Muniz