Lower prices and falling mortgage rates drove double-digit increases in condominium sales across Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties in February, while Broward County saw a 3% decline in existing condo sales. The average 30-year mortgage rate fell to 6% last month for the first time since fall 2022, providing relief to buyers in a market where median home prices remain well over $600,000 across the three major South Florida counties. Miami-Dade County experienced the greatest sales increase alongside the steepest price decreases, demonstrating the market’s sensitivity to pricing despite South Florida’s high proportion of cash sales.
“If the geopolitical tension in the Middle East persists in the summer, mortgage rates could hit 7% in mid-2026,” wrote Miami Association of Realtors Chief Economist Gay Cororaton. The February sales activity occurred before recent U.S. and Israeli military action in Iran, and mortgage rates have already jumped this month, potentially tempering future sales activity. The regional market’s responsiveness to both pricing and borrowing costs reflects broader economic pressures affecting homebuyer decisions.
Median condo prices have been trending lower for more than a year, driven primarily by sales of lower-priced and older condominiums. Various reforms implemented after the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside now require associations of older condo buildings to conduct structural inspections and build financial reserves for regular maintenance. These requirements have resulted in special assessments and higher monthly fees for some buildings, further pressuring older condo values.
Single-family home prices continued climbing at a slower pace, with increases of more than 4% in both Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties and a more modest 1.6% rise in Broward County. Monthly changes in median home prices have shown greater volatility in Broward and Palm Beach counties over the past year compared to Miami-Dade County. The pace of single-family home sales grew across all three counties in February, while the supply of homes fell in Broward and Palm Beach counties and increased only modestly in Miami-Dade, maintaining seller’s market conditions.
The luxury market segment demonstrated exceptional strength, with sales of homes priced at $1 million or above jumping 18% and condos in that price range surging 22% in February. “Million-dollar homebuyers continue to drive the growth momentum in South Florida, outperforming the overall market,” Cororaton wrote in her analysis. High-profile transactions have punctuated this trend, including Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s reported $170 million purchase on Indian Creek island and Palantir CEO Alex Karp’s $46 million acquisition on Miami Beach’s Hibiscus Island.
“Geopolitical tensions could hold back the overall recovery, but the million-dollar segment is poised to hold up remarkably well because of the acceleration in wealth migration from high-tax states, the high cash transactions in this segment, and increased asset diversification that can include real estate amid heightened macroeconomic uncertainty and stock market volatility,” Cororaton noted. Google’s co-founders have also purchased homes in South Florida within the past year, joining a wave of high-net-worth individuals relocating to the region. The data reflects sales of existing homes and condos, not newly constructed properties, indicating sustained demand in the established housing stock market despite broader economic uncertainties.