The rental market is flourishing in Miami, especially in the Brickell and Downtown area. Lately you must have noticed that vacant units are rented very quickly and prices per sqft are increasing. Indeed, usually rental listings are gone within one week. In Downtown, residential rentals rates per sqft increased 10% in 9 months whereas in Brickell the prices increase goes up 12%. The Downtown development Authority states that more than 95% of rental units are occupied in the greater downtown Miami.

This strong demand is simply due to the fact that Downtown attractiveness is growing. Personally I remember never crossing the bridge to go out at night. Now, with new restaurants and all kind of entertainments the area is now urbanized and attracts dynamic professionals.

If the rental market is increasing it is also because of economic factors. The lending criteria for mortgages are making it difficult for some people to buy a place. Moreover, with the past crisis potential investors end up with a bad credit history excluding them from becoming buyers. The rising of rentals prices is finally linked to the fact that condo sales prices have rebounded sharply. It means that rentals prices have to correlate with the higher market selling prices since the investors expect a certain rate of return.

So to conclude I would say that if you don’t have the financial strength to buy you unfortunately can’t act as a picky tenant any longer in Miami.