Why Miami Is Flunking Homebuilding and Affordability While the Rest of Florida Booms

While Miami continues to attract deep-pocketed transplants and institutional capital from across the globe, beneath the surface, the city's housing market is failing on two key fronts: new construction and affordability.Dotted with palm trees and bristling with amenity-rich luxury condominium towers, "Magic City" earned the dubious distinction of being 1 of 13 major U.S. metros to receive an F grade in the newly released 2026 Realtor.com® Metro Report Cards.Out of a possible 100 points, Miami earned an overall score of just 29, weighted down by a lackluster affordability component score of 18.9, combined with a slightly better homebuilding component score of 39.1.For context, best-in-class Des Moines, IA, which received an A+ in the ranking, earned a total score of 83.4, propelled by affordability and homebuilding component scores of 88.3 and 78.4, respectively. Although Miami is not the worst-performing market in the nation, with Los Angeles comfortably claiming that title, it nevertheless holds a unique distinction: It is the sole failing metro located in a state that earned a passing grade on the Realtor.com State Report Cards."We gave the whole state of Florida a B, but Miami b...