MIAMI (VINnews) — The long rush of East Coast households into Miami has cooled sharply as South Florida’s housing and living costs have climbed past the bargain that once drew retirees and working families from New York and other high-price metros.

Net migration into Florida from elsewhere in the United States fell to 201,191 people, about 551 a day, according to a June report from the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida. That is well below the post-pandemic peak of 598,737 new residents in 2022, or roughly 1,640 a day.

Miami-Dade County, anchored by the city of Miami, led the state in domestic out-migration, losing nearly 73,000 residents to other counties and states last year, the center reported. New York City has long been Miami’s largest out-of-state feeder market, but interest from that metro has faded. A Realtor.com review of cross-market traffic found that New York City shoppers accounted for 11% of nonlocal online views of Miami listings this fall, down about two-thirds from a 2023 peak.

The cost gap that once favored Florida has closed. An August report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, based on 2024 data, put Miami’s cost of living 14.1% above the national average, second among major cities only to San Francisco. New York City ranked fourth, at 12.5% above average. In Realtor.com’s 2026 metro report cards, Miami received an F on affordability and homebuilding. About 43.2% of Miami purchases were all-cash, the site reported.

Anthony Lamacchia, founder and chief executive of Lamacchia Realty, which has offices in New England and South Florida, told Realtor.com that Miami is “a victim of their own success.” He said Central Florida is now his firm’s top outbound market because buyers have been priced out of the south, and that the squeeze became clear in 2022 after prices jumped.

Lamacchia also tied part of the shift to reforms that followed the 2021 collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside. State rules now require older condominiums to complete structural inspections and fully fund reserves, which he said has pushed up condo fees and insurance premiums. Some corporate relocation clients, he said, tour properties for a weekend and decide the numbers no longer justify a move.

Ana Bozovic, a Miami agent and founder of Analytics Miami, told Realtor.com that fewer lower- and middle-income households are moving into South Florida. Land, construction, insurance, financing and labor have all risen, she said, so new housing is being built for affluent buyers because that is where development math works. Luxury sales, by contrast, hit record volume across the tiers she tracks in the first half of 2026. A December Realtor.com luxury report found Miami had overtaken New York City as the center of million-dollar listings.

Jiayi Xu, a senior economist at Realtor.com, said high-end jobs and capital are a boost, but hospitals, schools, restaurants and construction sites still need workers who can afford to live nearby. Bozovic said a city that looks like a place of opportunity will keep drawing people willing to absorb high costs, and that the task is to turn that wealth into broader affordability. She said she is optimistic Miami can do that.