As South Florida’s decadeslong housing affordability crisis surged in the past few years, developers in Miami took note –– unlike those in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
In Miami-Dade County, 8,690 affordable units were completed from 2020 through 2024, according to RentCafe, a Yardi Systems-owned apartment listing and research platform. That marks a 97 percent increase from the deliveries in the Magic City from the period from 2015 to 2019.
Miami ranked 10th nationwide for the number of affordable units finished, yet affordable housing construction slowed elsewhere in South Florida.
In Palm Beach County, 1,069 units were completed from 2020 through 2024, a 15 percent decline from the previous five-year period. Broward County had 955 affordable unit completions from 2020 through 2024, an 18 percent drop from the previous five years.
The findings come as the state and South Florida officials have been working to incentivize the construction of more below-market apartments. During a pandemic era influx of out-of-staters, South Florida experienced unprecedented housing demand and record rent growth, exacerbating the lack of affordable housing.
Among the projects finished in Miami is Swerdlow Group’s Sawyer’s Walk in Overtown with 578 apartments restricted for seniors earning up to 60 percent of the area median income. Swerdlow finished the project in 2024 in partnership with JM Partners and Alben Duffie.
Related Urban Development Group, the affordable housing arm of the Pérez family’s Related Group, has been completing in phases the redevelopment of Liberty Square in Miami’s Liberty City, so far delivering close to 800 rentals, including public housing, project-based voucher units, affordable and workforce units.
Still, the report only accounted for entirely affordable developments, excluding mixed-income buildings that include apartments at market rents. This essentially excludes Live Local Act projects, which can have a mix of incomes as long as 40 percent of apartments are reserved for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income.
South Florida developers still are mostly prioritizing market-rate rentals, as the affordable housing deliveries from 2020 through 2024 represent a drop compared to total multifamily completions.
Miami-Dade’s completions represented 19 percent of total apartment deliveries, while they accounted for 8 percent and 4 percent of total deliveries in Palm Beach County and Broward County, respectively, according to the report.
But the jump to affordable housing also could stem from South Florida’s slowdown of market-rate units. Developers seized on the pandemic bonanza with plans for new projects, which led to hefty deliveries in recent years just as the in-migration slowed. This led to a supply overhang, with slower leaseups and an increase in concessions. By contrast, demand for affordable units is close to ensured in South Florida.
Nationwide, nearly 310,000 affordable apartments were finished, a 73 percent increase from the completions from the prior five-year period, the report says. Seattle took the lead, followed by New York, Austin, Minneapolis/St.Paul and Atlanta.
San Antonio, which ranked ninth in total unit completions, along with Phoenix and Charlotte, also had the fastest growth in affordable housing construction, recording a 222.5 percent, 206.3 percent and 191 percent increase in completions compared with the previous five years.
Read more
“You’d be an idiot not to”: Multifamily owners tap Live Local tax breaks
Jorge Pérez’s Related wants to build apartments in Miami’s Little Havana
Development
South Florida
Live Local Act scorecard: 3K units completed, another 42K in the pipeline
