South Florida housing costs strain budgets.

Publication: The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Miami Herald

Byline: Tim Henderson, Samuel P. Nitze A

Aug. 31--If you had any doubt South Florida's booming housing market is becoming increasingly unaffordable, consider this:

--More people in Miami-Dade County spent more than 30 percent of their annual income on rent than in any other county in the nation in 2004, according to new data from the U.S. Census.

--Miami-Dade ranked second -- behind Brooklyn, N.Y. -- for people who spent more than 30 percent of their income on mortgage payments.

--Broward County ranked 11th on the rental list and 23rd on the mortgage list.

Under federal guidelines, housing is considered affordable when it costs a family no more than 30 percent of its annual income.

--Exacerbating South Florida's housing costs: Miami-Dade's median income ranked 216th out of 236 large counties,...

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