Florida · Miami
Miami Feasibility Studies
A feasibility study in Miami covers the Florida metro of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, not Miami, Ohio or Miami, Oklahoma. Miami-Dade alone had 19,131 multifamily units under construction in the first half of 2026, 9.7% of its inventory 4, and metro nonfarm payrolls stood at 2,967.1 thousand in August 2026 on the preliminary count 3. The study has to show that the subject leases, sells or books rooms against that pipeline in its own county and submarket.
Miami-Dade grew over five years and shrank in the latest one.
The two Census readings for Miami-Dade County point in opposite directions. QuickFacts puts the county at 2,701,762 residents at the April 1, 2020 census base and 2,802,029 on July 1, 2025, the Vintage 2025 estimate 1. Florida Trend, reporting the same round of estimates, finds that the county lost 10,115 residents between July 2024 and July 2025, the third-largest county decline in the U.S. 21. The five-year gain was therefore made before the latest year, and a Miami-Dade building that opens in 2027 is leasing into a county whose most recent count went down.
Palm Beach County, at the north end of the metro, has no one-year figure in the record, only its 2020 base of 1,492,191 and 1,575,726 on July 1, 2025 2. Broward, between the two, has no primary-source 2025 count at all, and neither does the three-county metro, so this page prints no metro headcount.
Pinellas sits on the same Florida Trend list. Our Tampa Bay page sets that county's loss against the new-apartment growth recorded in Pasco and Downtown Tampa; here the loss falls on the county with the largest apartment pipeline of the three, as the supply section shows.
Across the metro the Census Bureau counts 1,199,296 residents aged 65 and over in its 2020 to 2024 five-year American Community Survey estimate 5, the pool an assisted living, memory care or home-health operator in South Florida draws from. The same 2020 to 2024 five-year American Community Survey estimate counts 921,750 renter households 5.
The metro's median household income was $76,527 in the 2020 to 2024 five-year American Community Survey estimate, against a median owner-occupied home value of $443,300 in the same 2020 to 2024 five-year American Community Survey estimate 5.
| Measure | Value | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami-Dade County population, census base | 2,701,762 | April 1, 2020 | 1 |
| Miami-Dade County population, Vintage 2025 | 2,802,029 | July 1, 2025 | 1 |
| Miami-Dade County one-year change (national rank) | -10,115 (3rd-largest county decline) | July 2024 to July 2025 | 21 |
| Palm Beach County population, census base | 1,492,191 | April 1, 2020 | 2 |
| Palm Beach County population, Vintage 2025 | 1,575,726 | July 1, 2025 | 2 |
| Broward County and metro total | No primary-source figure in the research | Gap | Gap |
Nearly three million payroll jobs, a hotel workforce and a crane count.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts total nonfarm employment in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro at 2,956.7 thousand in August 2025 and 2,967.1 thousand in August 2026, the later figure preliminary 3.
Lodging carries a large workforce here. County Business Patterns records 945 establishments in the hotel and motel class (casino hotels, inns and other lodging excluded) across the metro in 2023 (County Business Patterns), employing 46,696 employees in 2023 (County Business Patterns) 7.
Construction is the other visible engine. MIAMI REALTORS called Miami-Dade the U.S. county with the most multifamily units under construction in 2025 and named Flow on the River, at 632 units, among the large projects behind that ranking 6. No dollar value was published for it, so the tower counts here as supply, not as a construction-spending figure.
Three counties on north-south spines, with named industrial and apartment clusters.
The metro is long and narrow, so almost every project sits on one of a handful of north-south spines: I-95 near the coast, Florida's Turnpike further inland, and US 1 and US 441 as the commercial arterials between them. East-west links are fewer: I-595 in Broward, the Dolphin Expressway (SR 836) and the Palmetto Expressway (SR 826) in Miami-Dade, and I-75 west across Alligator Alley toward the Gulf coast and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers market in Lee County. Three seaports (PortMiami, Port Everglades and the Port of Palm Beach) and three commercial airports (Miami International, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Palm Beach International) anchor the freight and visitor flows.
Two corridor groups stand out in the research. WareCRE's Q1 2026 report names Doral and Airport West, beside Miami International, and Hialeah and Medley along the Palmetto as the main industrial corridors of Miami-Dade 9. For multifamily, MIAMI REALTORS places the Q4 2025 concentration of new development in Downtown Miami, Edgewater, Overtown, Homestead, Doral and Hialeah, and in central Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Davie in Broward 8. Doral and Hialeah appear on both lists, so a site there competes for land with warehouses and apartment towers at once.
No FDOT station count for any South Florida road came back in the research. The gap bites hardest on the US 1 and US 441 frontage in Broward and Palm Beach and at the Palmetto and Turnpike interchanges around Doral, where fuel, food and retail pads fight for the same turning traffic.
The deepest apartment pipeline in the country, high industrial rents and thin data elsewhere.
Multifamily: the pipeline is the underwriting problem
Yardi data published by MIAMI REALTORS for the first half of 2026 show 19,131 multifamily units under construction in Miami-Dade, 9.7% of existing inventory, 9,233 in Broward (7.1%) and 6,601 in Palm Beach (7.9%) 4. A second provider gives a different picture: MMG reports 15,481 units under construction for Q2 2026 in a Miami geography the article does not define 11. The two count different universes and should not be blended; a Miami study names the one it relies on and uses the Yardi county line for the subject's own county.
Permits say the flow continues. The Census Bureau counts 16,535 housing units permitted in Miami-Dade County in calendar 2025, across all building types 1. Acren's metro tabulation counts 16,699 units permitted in buildings of five or more units in 2025, 71.20% of all units permitted, and a 66.91% rise in those large-building permits on 2024 10. A five-plus permit can be a condominium tower as easily as a rental building, and the two compete for different buyers and tenants.
Rents are high but reported inconsistently. Miami Finance Review puts the Q2 2026 Yardi asking rent at $2,671 and MMG's figure at $2,380 11. The Census Bureau's median gross rent for the metro, a broader measure that covers renter-occupied units paying cash rent, was $1,869 in the 2020 to 2024 five-year American Community Survey estimate 5. Our multifamily feasibility page describes the absorption and concession tests a lender expects.
Industrial: high rents, more space coming
Colliers reports Q2 2026 asking rents of $17.19 per square foot NNN in Miami-Dade and $17.60 in Broward, with 2.9 million square feet under construction in Miami-Dade, where vacancy rose 60 basis points over the quarter 14. Rising vacancy with that much space still under way is the reason a Doral or Hialeah small-bay project cannot take the county asking rent as its own.
Hotels: a peak-season rate and no occupancy
CoStar data reported by Hotel Management put Miami's average daily rate at $287.84 in January 2026 12, the height of the winter season. Newmark's guest-paid ADR of $277.86 for the quarter to January 2025 uses a different definition 13, so the pair is not a measure of rate growth. Neither source gives a January 2026 occupancy, RevPAR, room pipeline or list of openings, which leaves a Miami hotel file with a rate and no volume. Our hotel feasibility page covers the rest of the evidence a lender asks for.
Self-storage: a large metro stock, a thin city figure
StorageCafe and RentCafe count 45.5 million square feet of self-storage across the Miami metro in their August to September 2026 reports 15. Inside the City of Miami the supply comes to 3.97 square feet per person, and 379,270 square feet of new space is due in the city during 2026 15. Our Jacksonville page carries that city's storage figures. Our self-storage page explains the competitor census a lender expects.
What the South Florida record leaves out
Retail, senior housing, RV parks and fuel have no South Florida figure in the research, and office appears only in MIAMI REALTORS' headline that the region's office construction ranks among the most intense in the nation 4.
| Class | Measure | Value | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multifamily | Under construction, Miami-Dade (share of inventory) | 19,131 units (9.7%) | H1 2026 | 4 |
| Multifamily | Under construction, Broward (share of inventory) | 9,233 units (7.1%) | H1 2026 | 4 |
| Multifamily | Under construction, Palm Beach (share of inventory) | 6,601 units (7.9%) | H1 2026 | 4 |
| Multifamily | Under construction, MMG (geography not defined) | 15,481 units | Q2 2026 | 11 |
| Multifamily | Asking rent, Yardi; MMG rent | $2,671; $2,380 | Q2 2026 | 11 |
| Housing | Units permitted, Miami-Dade County, all types | 16,535 units | 2025 | 1 |
| Multifamily | Units permitted in five-plus buildings, metro; share; change on 2024 | 16,699 units; 71.20%; +66.91% | 2025 | 10 |
| Multifamily | Flow on the River | 632 units | 2025 | 6 |
| Industrial | Asking rent, Miami-Dade; Broward | $17.19; $17.60 per sq ft NNN | Q2 2026 | 14 |
| Industrial | Under construction, Miami-Dade; vacancy change on the quarter | 2.9 million sq ft; +60 bps | Q2 2026 | 14 |
| Hotel | Average daily rate (CoStar) | $287.84 | January 2026 | 12 |
| Hotel | Guest-paid ADR (Newmark, different definition) | $277.86 | Quarter to January 2025 | 13 |
| Self-storage | Metro inventory | 45.5 million sq ft | August to September 2026 | 15 |
| Self-storage | City of Miami per capita; new space due in 2026 | 3.97 sq ft; 379,270 sq ft | August to September 2026 | 15 |
County hotel taxes, a resort tax on the beaches and a quota liquor license.
The Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research lists a 6% hotel tax for 2026 in each of the three counties. In Miami-Dade that 6% is two levies, a 3% tourist development tax and a 3% convention development tax, and the Municipal Resort Tax applies in Miami Beach, Bal Harbour and Surfside; Broward and Palm Beach each levy 6% 22.
The second priced item is the liquor license. Broker listings for 4COP/3PS quota license transfers in Broward County asked $209,000 to $625,000 in October 2026 16. These are asking prices on a secondary listing site, not closed sales or a state figure, but they show why a full-bar restaurant or hotel bar in Broward carries a capital line that a beer-and-wine concept does not, and why the sources and uses should show a broker's written quote.
Zoning, impact fees and utility capacity are settled parcel by parcel through the letters on our Florida page.
One SBA district, two offices, and a Wynwood C-PACE closing.
The SBA's South Florida District serves all three counties: its Miami office covers Miami-Dade and Broward, and a second office serves Palm Beach County 17. That keeps the whole metro inside one district, unlike the Orlando metro, whose county lending is reported across two. Over approval fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the SBA's loan-level FOIA data show 13,205 loans approved in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, net of cancellations, under the 7(a) program in the metro, for $5,869.9 million approved in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, net of cancellations 18. The 504 program added $1,609.0 million approved in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, net of cancellations 18.
What an SBA lender checks in a study is on our SBA 7(a) and 504 page. The rule is 13 CFR 120.160(b): SBA may require professional appraisals, a survey, or a feasibility study 20.
Wynwood already has a PACE precedent: the Florida Development Finance Corporation closed a C-PACE financing for The Mohawk at Wynwood on December 30, 2025, with no amount disclosed 19. A Miami-Dade sponsor proposing the same layer can point the senior lender to that closing, and the study should show which of the building's improvements the assessment pays for.
No program status was settled for the three counties.
The research settled no USDA rural, Opportunity Zone or HUBZone result anywhere in Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach; the parcel tests are set out on our Florida page.
No published case names a South Florida location.
Our published worked cases include no site in Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach, and the Wynwood C-PACE closing under lenders above is a financing record, not one of them. The Florida cases, with what each one tests, are described on the Florida market page, which also carries the statewide insurance and hazard context behind any project in this metro.
Miami-area items a lender should confirm.
The subject county's Yardi line
The under-construction count for Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach as the subject requires.
Yardi or MMG, named
Which provider's Q2 2026 rent and pipeline the study benchmarks against, given that MMG's count covers a Miami geography its article does not define.
Miami-Dade's down year
Whether the subject's trade area gained or lost residents in the year to July 2025, not only since the 2020 census.
Which ADR definition
Whether the pro forma starts from CoStar's January 2026 rate or Newmark's guest-paid figure, and what the off-season months do to it.
Doral and Hialeah lease-up
The industrial buildings under construction in the subject's own corridor, and a lease-up rent below the county asking figure now that vacancy is rising.
The resort tax towns
For lodging in Miami Beach, Bal Harbour or Surfside, the Municipal Resort Tax that applies in those three towns, shown in the pro forma.
A Broward quota license
A broker's written quote for any 4COP/3PS license, and the lender's decision on how much of it the loan finances.
What a South Florida lender asks before the credit memo.
Which counties does a Miami feasibility study cover, and how many people live there?
The metro is Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, and a study is written for one of them, not for the three together. The Census Bureau's QuickFacts table puts Miami-Dade County at 2,802,029 residents on July 1, 2025, up from 2,701,762 at the April 1, 2020 census base 1, although Florida Trend's reading of the same estimates has the county losing 10,115 residents in the year to July 2025 21. Palm Beach County stood at 1,575,726, up from 1,492,191 2. The research holds no primary-source 2025 figure for Broward County or for the metro as a whole, so this page gives none.
What does a multifamily market study in Miami have to say about the construction pipeline?
Name the source and the geography, then use the one that matches the subject. Yardi data published by MIAMI REALTORS count 19,131 units under construction in Miami-Dade for the first half of 2026, 9.7% of inventory 4; MMG's Q2 2026 figure is 15,481 units for a Miami geography the article does not define 11. The two are not the same universe and should never be averaged. A Broward or Palm Beach subject needs its own county line from the Yardi release, 9,233 and 6,601 units respectively 4.
What rent should a Miami apartment feasibility study underwrite?
It depends on the provider, so the study has to name one. For Q2 2026, Yardi's asking rent is $2,671 and MMG's figure is $2,380, as reported by Miami Finance Review 11. The two providers' figures differ. A study should say which figure it benchmarks against and show the other beside it.
How many housing units were permitted in Miami-Dade County in 2025?
Two counts exist and they measure different things. The Census Bureau's QuickFacts table shows 16,535 housing units permitted in Miami-Dade County in calendar 2025, all building types 1. Acren's tabulation counts 16,699 units in buildings of five or more units for the whole metro, 71.20% of all permitted units, up 66.91% on 2024 10. One is a county total, the other a metro subset; a study that mixes them overstates or understates new supply. Use the series that matches the subject's product and trade area, and separate condominium permits from rental product.
What room rate should an SBA feasibility study for a Miami hotel start from?
CoStar data reported by Hotel Management put Miami's average daily rate at $287.84 in January 2026 12, the peak season. Newmark's older guest-paid ADR of $277.86 for the quarter to January 2025 uses a different definition 13, so the two cannot be read as a year of rate growth. No January 2026 occupancy or RevPAR, and no list of openings, came back from the research, so the January rate cannot stand for the year. Room revenue in Miami-Dade also carries the county's 6% hotel tax, split between a tourist development levy and a convention development levy 22.
How much does a liquor license cost for a restaurant in Broward County?
Broker listings for 4COP/3PS quota license transfers in Broward County asked $209,000 to $625,000 in October 2026 16. Those are asking prices on a secondary listing site, not closed sales, so a Fort Lauderdale or Hollywood restaurant study should carry a quoted price from a license broker and show the debt service on it.
Is there room for a new warehouse or flex building in Miami-Dade or Broward?
The market is priced high and getting more supply. Colliers reports Q2 2026 asking rents of $17.19 per square foot NNN in Miami-Dade and $17.60 in Broward, with 2.9 million square feet under construction in Miami-Dade 14, and Miami-Dade vacancy rose over the quarter 14. A flex or small-bay study in Doral, Airport West, Hialeah or Medley should list the projects under construction within its corridor and test lease-up at a rent below the county asking figure.
Financing a project in Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach? We start with the county line.
We read the subject against the pipeline, rents and rules of its own county and submarket, and we date every source. Send the address, the program and the lender's term sheet.
Request a methodology briefingData sources and dates.
Every figure on this page is cited to a named, dated source. Where South Florida's published series disagree, both are shown with the universe each covers.
- U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts V2025: Miami-Dade County, Florida, accessed October 2026 (population April 1, 2020 and July 1, 2025; permits calendar 2025).
- U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts V2025: Palm Beach County, Florida, accessed October 2026 (population April 1, 2020 and July 1, 2025). URL as recorded in the research: a three-county QuickFacts table whose address carries an older vintage code.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Over-the-year change in total nonfarm employment for large metropolitan areas, September 30, 2026 (August 2026 preliminary).
- MIAMI REALTORS, South Florida is Experiencing the Most Intense Multifamily and Office Construction in the Nation (Yardi data), July 14, 2026 (H1 2026 data).
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Detailed Tables (Census Data API), 2020 to 2024 five-year estimates; retrieved October 16, 2026.
- MIAMI REALTORS, Miami-Dade: Most Multifamily Units Under Construction in the U.S., August 22, 2025 (2025 data).
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 County Business Patterns (Census Data API), 2023 (employment for the pay period including March 12, 2023); retrieved October 16, 2026.
- MIAMI REALTORS, Southeast Florida Ranks No. 1 in the U.S. for Most Multifamily Construction, January 28, 2026 (Q4 2025 data).
- WareCRE, Miami Industrial & Warehouse Market Report Q1 2026, page undated; accessed October 2026 (Q1 2026 data).
- Acren, Multifamily Building Permits by Metro, September 12, 2026 (calendar 2025 permits).
- Miami Finance Review, Miami Multifamily Market 2026, July 22, 2026 (Q2 2026 data).
- Hotel Management (CoStar data), CoStar: U.S. posts first RevPAR growth month since March 2025, page undated; accessed October 2026 (January 2026 data).
- Newmark, Hotel Nsights Report - Miami, FL, 1Q 2025, 1Q 2025 (quarter to January 2025).
- Colliers, Miami-Dade and Broward Industrial Reports 2026 Q2, Q2 2026.
- StorageCafe; RentCafe, Self Storage Industry Trends; August 2026 self storage report, August to September 2026. Also https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/self-storage/self-storage-monthly-report/
- Liquor License Auctioneers, Florida, 4COP/3PS, October 2026 listings.
- U.S. Small Business Administration, South Florida (district page), current as of October 2026.
- U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Capital Access, 7(a) and 504 FOIA loan-level data, loan status as of June 30, 2026 (approval fiscal years 2016 to 2025); retrieved October 16, 2026.
- Florida Development Finance Corporation (FDFC), Closings, accessed October 2026 (closing of December 30, 2025).
- eCFR, 13 CFR 120.160, Loan conditions, current to October 7, 2026.
- Florida Trend (citing Census Bureau estimates), Census Estimates: Ocala Up, Declines in Miami-Dade, Pinellas, Taylor, March 27, 2026 (change July 2024 to July 2025).
- Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR), 2026 Local Option Tourist/Food and Beverage Tax Rates, September 4, 2026 (2026 rates).