Last month, the Miami Herald published a column titled
"Downtown Miami a Magnet for Millennials." That's also a myth that the Downtown Development Authority and other city leaders like to push from time to time as well.
Of course, we all know this is a stretch of the truth at best, if not a downright lie. Most millennials in Miami (or anywhere else for that matter) simply can't afford to pay $1,800 a month for a glorified studio in the area.
As it turns out, the true magnet for millennials in Miami is mom or dad's house.
A worrying 41.68 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 35 in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Palm Beach metro area live with one or more of their parents. That's the highest rate in the nation, and more than ten points higher than that national average of 30 percent. That data was collected between 2009 and 2013.
That's highest rate of any metro area in the nation.
Now, of course, before you figure, "Well, that's just a part of the culture here," please know it wasn't always this way. In 2000, only 28.10 percent of people between the ages of 18 an 35 lived with a parent. That's an astounding jump of nearly 14 percent over 13 years -- a time when Miami underwent two distinctive economic "booms."
In fact, since 1980, Miami saw the largest percentage increase of any U.S. metro area of young adults living at home. It's jumped about 16 percent since then.
Anyone who has ever had a booty-text attempt ended by, "Sorry, my mom is still up," shouldn't be surprised.
It's likely yet another regular Miamian-screwing effect of the luxury condo boom. Giant fancy towers rise. Foreigners buy them as pieds-à-terre or investments. Property taxes in the surrounding neighborhood go up. Rents rise. Suddenly, there aren't that many appealing places for a younger person making less than $40,000 a year to rent. Meanwhile, developers have pretty much openly admitted there's no incentive for them to build affordable units because of demand for luxury properties remaining so high.
Downtown Miami may be a great destination for millennials whose parents have offered their kid a trust fund, but more than likely, all they have to offer is an extra room in Kendall.
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