Miami Ranks Poorly For First-Time Home Buyers

MIAMI, FL — Miami's endless summers and dazzling views may be great for tourists, but they make it difficult to buy a home, according to a new study by personal finance website WalletHub that ranked the Magic City the 10th worst city for first-time home buyers in the United States.

WalletHub compared 300 cities of varying sizes based on 27 key metrics, from housing affordability to real-estate tax rates and property-crime rates

"Miami is among the least affordable cities, as it has high homeowner's insurance premiums, and the cost of homes per square foot is more than $400," WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez told Patch. "The city's real estate market is not among the strongest either. The buy vs rent break-even horizon is currently at 47 years, and it has one of the lowest home ownership rates for Millennials — 14 percent."

Nearby Miami Beach had one of the worst property-crime rate rankings of any city.

"It's the fifth highest property crime rate out of all the cities analyzed," Gonzalez told Patch of Miami Beach which ranked 129th among small cities. "Crime rate, along with high costs for homes and insurance and long home vs rent break-even horizons contribute to Miami Beach's low home ownership rate and an overall poor health of the city's housing market."

Floridians don't have to look far to find the best option for first-time home buyers. Tampa topped the list as the best large city in the U.S. for newbies while Cape Coral finished 17th among midsize cities. Orlando ranked 10th and St. Petersburg finished 20th in the midsize category.

Jacksonville and Boca Raton ranked 23rd for large and small cities respectively. Lakeland ranked 40th among small cities.

Miami ranked 268th overall and 55th among large cities in the report called "2019's Best & Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers."