Sell Your Commercial Property Fast In Miami, FL

Who rents in Miami

Miami had an estimated 459,745 residents in the 2020–2024 American Community Survey, in 194,821 occupied homes. Renters held 134,753 of them, a 69.2% share, the highest of the large Florida cities in our coverage. The city's median household income was $62,462, below the Miami-Dade County median of $71,753, while the county as a whole had 2,738,356 residents and a 47.8% renter share.

Nearby cities show how wide that renter base runs. ACS data put Hialeah at 53.4% renters, with a median household income of $55,594, and Fort Lauderdale, across the county line in Broward, at 45.9% renters and $83,130. Hialeah's median gross rent was $1,689 and Fort Lauderdale's $1,854, and both have a large apartment stock, with 43.6% and 49.1% of homes in 5+ unit buildings. North Miami sits between the two. All three draw on the same regional job base.

The job base is broad. Yardi Matrix data for December 2025 show 688,000 South Florida jobs in trade, transportation and utilities, reflecting the region's role in international trade, plus 517,000 in professional and business services, 483,000 in education and health services, 351,000 in leisure and hospitality and 223,000 in financial activities. Employment grew 0.8% in 2025, with education and health services adding 11,300 positions, and unemployment was 3.8% in February 2026, 60 basis points below the national rate.

Finance is the fastest-changing piece. Citadel's $2.5 billion headquarters at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive, developed by Related Cos., will total 2.2 million square feet, with 1.5 million square feet of offices, 212 hotel rooms and ground-floor retail. Office projects of that size typically draw high-income renters to Brickell and downtown, which raises the rent benchmark for older buildings nearby.

Rents and affordability

Miami's median gross rent was $1,758 over 2020–2024, and Miami-Dade County's was $1,829. Those survey medians include long-tenured households; Yardi Matrix put the South Florida average asking rent at $2,526 through April 2026, up 0.2% over three months. The gap between in-place and asking rents is a central question for any buyer reviewing a Miami rent roll.

Affordability is tight. In Miami, 60.4% of renter households spend at least 30% of income on housing and 32.7% spend half or more. The county figure is 60.9%, and Hialeah's is 61.5%. HUD's fair market rents for the two South Florida areas we buy in are:

Source: HUD FY2026 FMR schedule. These set the ceiling for most voucher rents; the FY2027 schedule took effect October 1, 2026.

The apartment stock

Miami has 223,826 housing units, and ACS table B25024 shows 136,182 of them, or 60.8%, in buildings of five or more units. The city is dominated by large buildings: 89,817 units sit in buildings of 50 or more, compared with 19,497 in 20–49 unit buildings, 14,426 in 10–19 unit buildings and 12,442 in 5–9 unit buildings. The smaller categories, about 46,000 units in 5–49 unit buildings, include many of the older walk-up buildings that individual owners hold in neighborhoods such as Little Havana.

Age is a defining issue. The median year built is 1979, and table B25034 shows 50.8% of units predate 1980, while 19.2% were built in 2010 or later. Hialeah's median year built is 1975 and Fort Lauderdale's 1973. Older buildings face roof, electrical, plumbing and window costs, along with insurance underwriting that looks closely at age and wind protection.

Land is the binding constraint. Miami-Dade already has 489,828 units in 5+ unit buildings, 44.7% of its housing, and 274,546 of those are in buildings of 50 or more units. The city of Miami alone holds about 28% of the county's 5+ unit housing with about 17% of its residents. Yardi Matrix counted 2,649 units delivered across South Florida in 2026 through April, just 0.7% of existing stock. Stabilized occupancy was 95% in March, 50 basis points below a year earlier but still higher than in Tampa or Orlando. Sales volume held up better too, at $894 million in the first four months of 2026 against $1 billion over the same stretch of 2025.

New income-restricted supply can also come through the Live Local Act. Under s. 196.1978, new projects with more than 70 units set aside for income-qualified households can exempt those units from property tax, fully at or below 80% of area median income and 75% for 80–120%. Rents on the set-aside units are capped at the lower of the program chart or 90% of market, so they compete mainly with older workforce buildings rather than new luxury towers.

Property taxes on apartment buildings in Miami-Dade

The Miami-Dade Property Appraiser assesses parcels at just value each January 1. Buildings of 10 or more units fall under s. 193.1555, which caps annual assessed-value growth at 10% for non-school levies; 2–9 unit buildings get the same cap under s. 193.1554. Both reset on a sale or a 50%+ change in ownership of the entity holding title.

The appraiser's 2025 adopted millage chart put the City of Miami at 19.9878 mills, down from 20.0332 in 2024, and Miami's Downtown Development Authority area at 20.3778. The city's own share was 7.1080 operating mills plus 0.2536 for debt. The county's FY 2025-26 budget shows 16.9317 total mills for unincorporated Miami-Dade, including 4.5740 countywide operating mills. Valuation appeals go to the Value Adjustment Board within 25 days of the TRIM notice under s. 194.011.

Transfer costs are higher here than anywhere else in Florida. According to the Department of Revenue, Miami-Dade charges 60 cents per $100 in documentary stamp tax plus a 45-cent surtax on sales of property other than single-family homes, $1.05 per $100 in total. On a $5 million apartment sale, that is $52,500. The surtax is authorized by s. 201.031.

Landlord rules

Miami and Miami-Dade cannot cap rents under s. 166.043 and s. 125.0103. Since 2023, s. 83.425 has preempted local regulation of residential tenancies, superseding local tenant ordinances. Under the state act, deposits are uncapped but must be returned within 15 days or claimed in writing within 30 under s. 83.49; nonpayment notices give three days, excluding weekends and legal holidays, under s. 83.56; and month-to-month tenancies end on 30 days' notice under s. 83.57.

What this means if you own a building here

Miami sellers have firmer occupancy than the Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville metros but higher costs on both ends of a deal: about 20 mills of property tax on a reset assessment, $1.05 per $100 in transfer tax and insurance priced to building age. In-place rents well below current asking rents can be a selling point if the building's condition supports raising them. Buyers will discount buildings with deferred structural or roof work.

Estimate value with our apartment building value calculator, and plan a reinvestment with the 1031 exchange calculator. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings across Miami-Dade and Broward, listed or off-market; our seller page explains how we underwrite.

Before listing, assemble the last two TRIM notices, a rent roll with deposit balances, current insurance declarations, and any engineering, roof or electrical reports. Separate any short-term rentals on the operating statement, since leases of six months or less owe sales tax under the Department of Revenue rules while longer leases do not. Buyers move faster when the paperwork answers those questions up front.