“South Florida by the numbers” is a web feature that catalogs the most notable, quirky and surprising real estate statistics.
A snapshot of Miami’s millennials (viewed through the lens of their real estate tendencies) presents a very muddled and unfocused portrait. Some reports indicate a massive exodus from South Florida among those between the ages of 20 and 40, driven by high costs and low wages. Other reports point to millennials remaining at home with parents for longer periods, for similar reasons. At the same time, trends show traditional upward mobility, highlighted by a “cities to suburbs” progression in recent years, with Florida included among the top five states for millennial millionaires. Is the reality for local millennials somewhere in the middle, or is it simply a case of two polar extremes? We examine the issue in this month’s edition of “South Florida by the numbers.”
5: Miami’s national ranking among cities with the highest net losses of millennials for the past three years, according to personal finance website SmartAsset. In 2018, 4,305 millennials moved in; 10,870 left. In 2019, 3,252 moved in; 5,972 left. As of June 2020, 2,736 moved in and 6,368 have left. But as Master Broker Nancy Klock Corey points out, “Most young people in their 20s do leave for college. That’s been the story of Florida for years. Most come back because millennials are entrepreneurial and Florida is an entrepreneurial type of state.” [MiamiHerald]
618,000: Number of millennial millionaires in the United States, with about 5 percent of them living in Florida, ranking the Sunshine State among the nation’s top five for this population group. This article, based on a report it cited, was published in February 2020 and mentions that millennial millionaires were already leaving high-tax states like California and New York. Given recent migration to Florida as a result of the pandemic, it is safe to assume this trend has increased. [CBS]
29: As of September 2019, typical “move-out” age of Miami millennials – an increase of five years since 1980, and tying Miami with Los Angeles and New York City for the highest move-out age among major cities in America. A report from Zillow cites culture, home affordability, and low wages as factors keeping more local millennials living with family rather than independently. [MiamiNewTimes]
$18.85 million: Price for 26,273 square feet of developable land, (plus 8,227 square feet of undevelopable land underneath the Metromover), at Miami Worldcenter, purchased by Chicago-based development group Akara Partners. According to its website, Akara develops hospitality-oriented apartments geared for millennials, and its Kenect project will feature 450 apartments, 10,000 square feet of retail and 20,000 square feet of coworking space. [TheRealDeal]
2 million: Number of households millennials will form each year for the next decade, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. As millennials nationwide shift toward favoring suburban homes, Florida developers have taken notice and built well-priced houses across the state. (Millennials are the top new home purchasing group in Orlando, Jacksonville, and Tampa, according to real estate consulting firm Metrostudy.) When factoring in Miami Beach, Miami has had the largest increase in the number of millennials among Florida’s major metro areas since 2010, but the pace of growth has slowed in recent years. [FloridaTrend]
91: Percentage of Miami millennial purchases that were previously owned homes, making them the group most likely to buy in this category, according to a mid-2020 report. (Eighty-five percent of Generation Xers purchases were previously owned homes, and 82 percent of baby boomers’ purchases were previously owned homes.) Millennials were also the biggest overall buying cluster at 37 percent. [MiamiToday]
This column is produced by the Master Brokers Forum, a network of South Florida’s elite real estate professionals where membership is by invitation only and based on outstanding production, as well as ethical and professional behavior.