Looking to rent? This neighborhood is tops for units priced under $1,750
Hundreds of renters swarmed South Beach in the last few months. But that might not be the case for long with rental prices rising.
The Miami Beach ZIP code 33139 had the most new leases signed for apartment rentals listed at or below $1,700 per month in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, according to data from the Miami Realtors Association. The three-mile long area from South Pointe Park to Collins Park had a total of 1,973 new contracts from the second quarter of 2020 through the first quarter of 2021.
“One thing you have to keep in mind is the turnover. Through COVID, we did not see a lot of movement. Once those annual leases expired, landlords didn’t have to renew. We had a number of renters that didn’t get renewed, because they were behind on rent,” said Benjamin Gene, president and CEO of Keyes Property Management.
Many restaurant and service workers that comprised a large tenant base for the ZIP code 33139 left, Gene said. “The due diligence on the new renters was far more robust. We needed more guarantee on income and looked back at their previous rental history. Did they come out of a place and left a $10,000 balance?”
Many new renters in 33139 came from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California, Gene said.
About 40 rental units priced below $1,750 per month remain on the market, said Gene, citing data from the Multiple Listing Service. Most are in the many Art Deco boutique buildings between West Avenue, which stretches from the MacArthur Causeway to past Maurice Gibb Memorial Park, and Collins. Most units listed below $1,750 per month or less, Gene said, range from 300-square-foot studios to 700 square feet with a single bedroom and bathroom.
Would-be Miami Beach renters might want to move sooner rather than later, Gene said, as he expects rents will continue to rise as more people from across the Northeast and West Coast relocate to Miami.
Renters searching for more bang for their buck are ditching Miami Beach and opting for Kendall, Hialeah, Miami Shores and Doral, Gene said. “People are looking to be in a less dense area. Now that people are working from home, they need more space.”
Two other ZIP codes attracted more than 600 newly signed leases below $1,700 in the past year:
▪ 33141 (North Bay Village and North Beach) had 1,115 newly signed leases
▪ 33020 (Hollywood) had 673 newly signed leases
The average rent continues to increase in the Miami Metro, which includes cities in Miami-Dade, Broward and West Palm Beach, according to the latest RentCafé report. The area has an average rent of $1,768, a 3% year-over-year increase from $1,715.05 in April 2020.
