Luxury homes drive Miami-Dade’s housing market while other sales lag. Here’s why

Real Estate News admin October 20, 2026 0 Comments

Luxury homes drive Miami-Dade’s housing market while other sales lag. Here’s why

High mortgage rates likely contributed to declining home sales in Miami-Dade last month and the month before. But two segments of the market — ultra-luxury homes and more affordable condos — were still going strong in September, according to new data from the Miami Association of Realtors.

Mortgage rates are sitting around 7.5%, the highest they’ve been in almost three years. That means borrowing money is more expensive, which causes more potential homebuyers to delay buying for now.

Total home sales in Miami-Dade were down 2% last month compared to the previous September, and single-family home sales were down 4.7%. Total home sales were down 1% year-over-year in August.

But even though the overall market appears to be slumping, Miami-Dade shattered its previous record for $30 million-and-up home sales last month. It took just nine months for Miami-Dade to break the previous record, which was set last year.

Through the end of September, Miami-Dade saw 24 sales of homes priced at $30 million or higher. In 2025, there were 21 sales at that price point.

And although existing condo sales were only up by 1% last month compared to the previous September, sales of condos priced between $300,000 and $400,000 were up by 14.5% year-over-year.

Buyers of both ultra-luxury homes and more affordable condos are more likely to pay in cash, rather than take out mortgages. This insulates these segments of the market from the effects of fluctuating mortgage rates.

Wealthy buyers who can afford to buy their homes outright are more likely to buy in cash, so the luxury real estate market is usually dominated by cash sales. Last year, 82% of condos that cost $1 million or more were bought in cash, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.

Existing condos that cost between $300,000 and $400,000, which tend to be in older buildings, are also more likely to be bought in cash because they’re often ineligible for mortgages. Since the Champlain Towers collapse in Surfside in 2021, lenders have begun requiring stricter reviews of Florida condo buildings’ financial and structural health, which has led to more buildings being blacklisted and more buyers being denied mortgages.

Miami-Dade sees significantly more cash homes sales than the national average. Last month, 38% of home sales in Miami-Dade were paid for in cash, compared to the national average of 27%.

The Miami metro area leads the nation in cash sales, the Miami Association of Realtors’ data shows. Nearly half of existing condo sales and more than a quarter of single-family home sales were made in cash in September.

Another reason cash transactions are common in Miami-Dade is because foreign nationals represent a significant portion of home buyers. Because it’s harder for foreign buyers to secure a U.S. mortgage, it’s more common for them to buy in cash.

A report from the Miami Association of Realtors published in July 2025 showed foreign buyers had bought nearly half of all new construction, pre-construction and existing condos in the preceding 18 months in Miami-Dade.