How bridge financing has helped fuel a surge in development in South Florida
The Florida condo market has been one of the top stories in the Sunshine State in 2025. It has pushed through headwinds and, in some parts of the state, is even seeing new development.
One of the areas where the condo market is trying to bounce back is in Miami and South Florida. For investors looking to jump into that market, they may find bank loans harder to come by. This is allowing private lenders to fill that demand.
Zack Simkins (pictured top), managing director at Vaster, said part of the issue stems from banks trying to reposition themselves in the post-pandemic world.
“During COVID, when rates were dropping, because you had the reaction from the Fed to create more liquidity in the market, banks were essentially giving out money,” Simkins told Mortgage Professional America. “They were looking to originate new debt, create new relationships with multiple investors, including foreigners and domestic buyers.
“And as a result, now the banks have become, I wouldn't say overleveraged, but overexposed on specifically residential real estate, across the board. In the past two years, the emergence of private funds, private credit offerings for commercial and residential, has helped, no pun intended, bridge that gap.”
Foreign buyers surging
Part of the reason private lending needs to step up is the surge in new buyers in South Florida. Many of those new buyers are coming from outside the United States.
According to new data from the Miami Association of Realtors, 52% of new construction buyers in the Miami market are foreign-born, with 86% of those buyers from Latin American countries.
“Miami specifically has been exposed to this, more drastically than in other markets, given the volume of new supply coming online,” Simkins said. “That's not only within the condo market, but also in single-family home and spec home finance and spec home developments. You had a new wave of buyers relocating here. Then you had an influx of new developments, single-family homes and condos to help support those new buyers, as well as local buyers.”
Simkins said right now there is inventory on the market. This oversupply of condos means that attracting buyers to relocate to the area, whether from other parts of the US or other countries, may be critical to filling these vacancies.
“There's still a lot of supply of condos coming online to create an abundance of inventory,” he said. “If you look at these newer condo projects that have been completed since 2019, you're starting to see an aggressive amount of active listings in those projects, where anywhere between 10% to 15% of the total condo units of these projects.
“What that's telling you is that there's an oversupply of condos right now, and the market is looking for buyers. They're looking for a new influx of people to help purchase those beyond local players.”
High-end condos
Many of the condos hitting the market in Miami are not necessarily for first-time homebuyers. In fact, many of them are very high-end properties. The same report from the Miami Association of Realtors ranked Miami fourth globally among cities with the highest number of ultra-wealthy residents.
This presents an opportunity for brokers and lenders in the South Florida market to appeal to those types of buyers, according to Simkins.
“That's where I believe Miami has an opportunity to really test this new phase,” he said. “This cycle of high-end, high-volume, branded boutique condo projects that are coming across various sub-markets, to really test to see, can we really support all this abundant supply? That's where I think the market is leading, and over the next six months, as we approach the season, it's going to be a big testament to that.”
Yuval Golan, founder and CEO of Waltz, calls out secondary market practices that lump wealthy foreign investors with ITIN borrowers, resulting in unfair loan pricing. https://t.co/8rfDskx2an
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) December 3, 2025
Simkins is hopeful that lower mortgage rates are on the way, which will help homebuyers nationwide. He said there could also be a surge in borrowers using gains in either cryptocurrency or the stock market to take advantage of real estate opportunities in South Florida.
“The lowering of interest rates will hopefully create some more positive interest in maybe buyers that were sitting on the sidelines, that are looking to then purchase that property,” he said. “Other buyers may be taking advantage of their high-performing crypto market, or the strength of the stock market. They are cashing in those investments to acquire and diversify in real estate, maybe taking advantage of lower pricing if there's oversupply.
“The market is at a pivotal point. It's going to continue this strength of resilience, as opposed to the overall residential space, and have a rebound period of additional sales. It will either be fueled by foreign buyers or by new domestic buyers taking advantage of the lower cost of capital and elevated portfolio returns.”
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