Global capital kept flowing into Miami property even as local headwinds intensified
Miami’s role as a global safe‑haven for capital appeared to harden in 2025, with international buyers once again making the metro the top United States destination for foreign home purchases, even as Florida’s condo sector wrestled with rising costs and regulatory pressure.
South Florida’s foreign buyer share – measured as residential purchases by international buyers as a slice of total dollar volume – reached 15% in 2025. That's seven times the US average of 2% and more than triple Florida’s 5% share, according to the Miami Association of Realtors and National Association of Realtors data.
Foreign buyers spent $4.4 billion on South Florida homes, up from $3.1 billion a year earlier, and accounted for 10% of all international home sales nationwide.
“Miami is where the world wants to be,” MIAMI chairman of the board Alfredo Pujol said.
“We are America’s youngest major city, filled with energy and innovation. We are the most welcoming and diverse community with unparalleled price appreciation. So, it’s no wonder why a staggering 93% of Miami global buyers purchased for security, profitability and location.”
Latin American capital led the charge
Colombia ended 2025 as the top foreign country buying South Florida real estate, with Argentina close behind; together they accounted for more than a quarter of international closed sales.
MIAMI reported buyers from 55 countries across Latin America, Europe, Canada and beyond, a diversity brokers said helped stabilize demand when individual economies weakened.
International buyers skewed toward higher‑priced product. MIAMI put their median purchase price at $558,700, about 13% above the national foreign‑buyer median of $494,400.
Mexican and Brazilian buyers led the pricing league table, with median spends above $770,000, and 51% of South Florida international transactions were all‑cash, compared with 47% nationally.
Condo demand met a stressed market
Miami’s appeal to global investors – especially for pre‑construction and new‑build condos – persisted as foreign buyers took nearly half of all new construction, pre‑construction and condo conversion sales over an 18‑month period ending July 2025, a share MIAMI said increased in a follow‑up report later that year.
That wave of demand arrived as Florida’s condo market grappled with sharply higher insurance premiums, HOA dues and tightening financing standards after the Surfside collapse, trends that contributed to falling condo values across key markets including Miami‑Dade.
“And what that does from a lending perspective is mean they don’t meet the minimum requirements for financing when it comes to the agencies like Fannie, Freddie, or government loans like FHA or VA. So it’s created a bit of a headwind for condo sellers and we’re seeing prices being discounted accordingly,” Orlicki Group founder Oliver Orlicki told Mortgage Professional America.
What it meant for lenders and originators
For mortgage professionals, the data underscored a contrasting landscape: an international, largely cash‑driven buyer pool chasing urban condos and new product, and a domestic market increasingly constrained by affordability and building‑cost shocks.
MIAMI found that about 71% of foreign buyers used their homes as vacation or rental properties, and 65% bought after visiting Florida twice or less – signs of investors making relatively rapid decisions in a complicated risk environment.
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