The popularity of remote work affects southern parts of Florida, including Victoria Park, a neighbourhood in Fort Lauderdale where a house that used to cost $600,000 in 2019 currently sells for $2.3 million.
The Miami metropolitan area, which Fort Lauderdale is part of, attracts the greatest number of in-migrants in the USA compared to the pre-pandemic level, according to the January report by the National Association of Realtors. The report analyses census data and compares the number of departing and arriving residents based on zip codes in communities with 150,000 and more households. In 2022, the population growth in the Miami metro area was 56.2% greater than in 2019.
Florida is also the place of choice for many entrepreneurs, such as Gregory Galant, CEO at the software developer Muck Rack. According to him, Miami is a “very welcoming” city with a booming computer tech sector and a great number of professionals who moved here from New York and California. In 2021, Muck Rack switched to fully remote work, so its employees can now live wherever they like.
House prices in Florida skyrocketed after the pandemic. The median selling price of a single-family house in Fort Lauderdale is currently $600,000, which is still lower than in New York ($799,000) and San Francisco ($1.4 million).
One of the reasons for Florida’s comparatively low prices is the abundance of new developments. 50 complexes are now under construction in downtown Fort Lauderdale alone, where over 8,500 residences will be available. All this keeps the Sunshine State attractive for immigrants.