Miami has already broken its luxury record this year. Sales above $10 million in Miami-Dade are running 14% ahead of the whole of 2025, with four months still to go.

And international money is moving toward it, not away. Foreign buyers put $4.4 billion into South Florida property in 2025, up from $3.1 billion the year before, across 5,300 homes — while foreign purchases across the United States as a whole fell by 19%.

Miami is doing its own thing. Here is where the momentum sits, and how buyers from Europe and Brazil get in cleanly.

Foreign Capital Is Choosing Miami

Foreign buyers account for 15% of South Florida's sales volume, against 2% nationally — seven times the US figure.

In Miami-Dade the biggest groups are Colombia (18%), Argentina (13%) and Brazil (9%). Brazilian buyers purchase at a median of $777,400, well above the $558,700 median for foreign buyers generally, and nearly double the county's overall condo median.

Two numbers tell you how this group buys: 51% pay cash, and 49% buy new construction. That is a confident, well-advised buyer pool, and it is choosing the newest part of the market.

The New-Build Tier Is Where the Strength Is

Statewide, condo and townhouse sales above $1 million rose 41% in the first quarter of 2026, with the $3–5 million band up 69%.

Newer buildings carry none of the structural and reserve questions attached to Florida's older stock, which is exactly why international capital concentrates there. When half of foreign buyers choose new construction, they are buying the tier with the cleanest financials and the strongest resale story.

For buyers willing to do homework, the older end offers value: entry pricing in Miami-Dade has settled, with the overall condo median at $408,000 in August 2026 and around twelve months of inventory. That means choice and negotiating room in a city that spent years offering neither — provided you read the building's reserve study and inspection report before you offer. In a well-run older building, that work is where the bargains are.

Insurance Has Turned a Corner

This is the change most international buyers have not registered yet.

Florida's state insurer cut rates by an average of 8.7% statewide for 2026, and 14% in Miami-Dade. Since January 2024, 48 companies have filed for rate decreases, more than a dozen new insurers have entered the state, and the regulator has said he expects more aggressive cuts going into 2027.

Florida was the only state in the country with falling homeowners insurance rates in 2025. The cost line that scared buyers away from 2022 to 2024 is now moving in their favour.

The Cash Advantage Is at Its Widest

US mortgage rates were 7.40% in early October 2026, against 6.30% a year earlier. American buyers who need financing are constrained; 37.8% of all Miami sales in August were cash.

If you are buying with capital rather than a US mortgage, you are competing against a thinner field than at any point in recent years. That is the single clearest advantage an international buyer holds in Miami right now.

Get the Structure Right, and the Rest Is Simple

These are the four items I make sure clients have handled before they sign. None is an obstacle; each is a deadline.

Your US tax number. A foreign owner needs an ITIN to file and to be refunded. The IRS asks for seven weeks, and nine to eleven from abroad. Apply when you buy, not when you sell.

FIRPTA, at exit. When a foreign owner sells, the buyer withholds 15% of the sale price — not the profit — and sends it to the IRS; you reclaim the excess by filing, or apply in advance for a certificate reducing it. Rates fall to 10% between $300,000 and $1 million, and to nil at $300,000 or less, where the buyer takes it as a residence. Plan it and it is a formality.

Property tax. Florida's homestead exemption and 3% cap belong to residents; a foreign owner has a 10% cap on assessment increases instead. On 3 November, voters decide an amendment that would cut that cap to 5% — a direct improvement for exactly this kind of owner.

Estate planning. US assets above $60,000 bring a US estate filing for a non-resident owner, and that threshold does not rise with inflation. Every Miami condo clears it. There are well-trodden ways to hold property that address this, and they all need to be in place before purchase.

How I Would Buy Miami Today

Buy new, or buy an older building whose paperwork you have read. Both work. Mixing them up does not.

Underwrite the carry — association fee, insurance, property tax — rather than only the headline price.

Use your cash position. It is worth more in this market than it has been in years.

Set up the tax structure first. It costs little before purchase and a great deal afterwards.

Miami in 2026 is a market where the top is setting records, the entry level has stopped falling, insurance is improving and the competition for good stock is thinner than usual. For an international buyer with capital, those four things rarely line up at once.

Thinking about Miami from Europe or Brazil? Contact us at info@weigsding-investments.com or message us on WhatsApp. We work in Portuguese, Spanish, English and French, and we work alongside US attorneys and tax advisers on every purchase.

This article is general information, not investment, legal or tax advice. Market data reflects the periods cited. US tax rules depend on your personal circumstances and country of residence. Take US professional advice before acting.

Sources

MIAMI REALTORS® and RWorld, Miami-Dade monthly market statistics, August 2026 (released 16 September 2026)
Florida Realtors, on luxury condo sales in the first quarter of 2026 (22 May 2026) and Florida housing statistics, August 2026
MIAMI REALTORS®, 2025 international report (27 January 2026); National Association of Realtors, international transactions report (29 July 2026)
Florida Chief Financial Officer, on Citizens rate reductions (12 January 2026); Florida Realtors, on approved insurance rate cuts (24 September 2026)
Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 8 October 2026
Florida Senate, bill summary of CS/CS/HB 913 (2025) and Florida Statutes §553.899 (2025)
IRS, FIRPTA withholding, exceptions from FIRPTA withholding, Instructions for Form 8288 (January 2026), ITIN guidance, and estate tax for non-residents not citizens of the United States
Florida Department of Revenue, "Save Our Homes"; Florida Realtors, on Amendment 3