Miami Luxury Condos

Miami’s luxury condo market crossed a line in 2025: for the first time, the annual median price per square foot for $1M-plus resales finished above $1,000, at $1,030. That number kept climbing into 2026 — 424 luxury condos closed in the first quarter, up 15.2% year over year, at a median of $1,841,000. And yet the same market carried roughly 19 months of luxury inventory. Both things are true at once, and understanding why is the difference between overpaying and buying well.

What the 2026 Numbers Actually Say

Miami is running two condo markets in parallel. New and branded product is setting records: the $2M-plus segment posted 204 sales in Q1 2026, up 25.9% year over year. Meanwhile the broader condo market — including thousands of older units across Miami-Dade — sits at roughly 12.9 months of supply with a countywide condo median near $415,000. Buyers with patience have genuine leverage in the second market. Sellers of trophy product have almost none of that pressure.

Cash is the other defining feature. Just under half of all Miami-Dade condo sales closed in cash in May 2026. In the $1M–$5M band it runs above 53%, and in the ultra-luxury tier above $2,000 per square foot it approaches 83%. When most of your competition is not waiting on financing, speed and clean terms matter as much as price.

The Two-Speed Market and Why Older Buildings Are Cheaper

Since Florida tightened its structural rules after Surfside, buildings three storeys and older than thirty years must complete milestone inspections and fund structural reserve studies. That has pushed real costs onto older associations, and it is the single biggest reason two condos in the same neighbourhood can differ so much in price per square foot.

This is not automatically a reason to avoid older buildings. Association data from 2025 showed well-priced older condos actually selling faster than newer units — 66 days versus 81. The rule is simply that the diligence changes: before making an offer on any building of that age, you read the milestone inspection, the reserve study, the last three years of minutes and the assessment history. A building that has already completed its work and funded reserves is often the better buy precisely because the market discounted it anyway.

Where the Luxury Inventory Is

Miami Beach remains the deepest luxury market — 231 sales in Q1 2026 — with South Beach the fastest-moving segment on the barrier island. Greater Downtown, including Brickell and Edgewater, posted 112 luxury sales, up 21.7%. Coconut Grove and Coral Gables together added 81, up 44.6% — the fastest growth of the three.

The buildings that define the top of each submarket are worth knowing by name: Continuum and Apogee in South of Fifth, Faena House and Eighty Seven Park on the mid and north beach, the Four Seasons Residences at The Surf Club and Seaway in Surfside, One Thousand Museum and Aston Martin Residences downtown, and Una Residences and the coming St. Regis Residences on Brickell’s waterfront.

Branded Residences: Miami Is Now Second Only to Dubai

Miami has 48 completed branded residence projects and 55 more in the pipeline, placing it second worldwide behind Dubai. Globally, branded product commands roughly a 33% price premium. In practice that premium buys hotel-grade service, a managed rental option in some buildings, and — the part buyers underrate — a brand standard that constrains how the building is maintained over decades.

Brickell now concentrates more branded development than any other market in the Western Hemisphere: St. Regis, Cipriani, Baccarat, Dolce&Gabbana and Mercedes-Benz are all building within blocks of each other. Elsewhere in Miami you will find Aston Martin downtown, Missoni in Edgewater, Faena on the Miami River, Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key and Four Seasons in Surfside and Coconut Grove.

Records Worth Knowing

The Miami-Dade condo record is $86 million, paid in November 2025 for a 16,053-square-foot penthouse at Seaway at The Surf Club — about $5,358 per square foot. Before that the record was $44 million at the Four Seasons Residences next door. On the contract side, a Shore Club penthouse has been under contract above $120 million since 2024, and two Mandarin Oriental penthouses went under contract in 2026 at roughly $49.9 million each — but neither has recorded a deed, so treat them as contracts, not closed sales.

What Changed on 3 August 2026 — and Why It Reprices Buildings, Not Units

On 3 August 2026, Fannie Mae retired the Limited Review process for established condominium projects under Lender Letter LL-2026-03. Limited Review was the light-touch path: a larger down payment bought a shorter list of questions about the building. It no longer exists.

Established projects now require a Full Review, or a Waiver of Project Review — and the waiver, as expanded in the same letter, covers projects with ten or fewer units. Essentially no Miami condominium tower qualifies. In practice: if your buyer is financing, the building is getting a Full Review, at every down-payment level. Twenty percent down no longer shortens the questions. Fifty percent down no longer shortens the questions.

Two related dates from the same letter belong in every buyer’s and every seller’s calendar:

• Since 1 July 2026 — a master property insurance policy with a deductible above $50,000 per unit makes a project ineligible. Coastal carriers have pushed deductibles hard, and associations that accepted the increase to hold premiums down did so without understanding what it did to their owners’ resale market.
• From 4 January 2027 — the minimum reserve allocation rises from 10% to 15% of annual budgeted assessment income. An underfunded association has months, not years, to fix it.

One change ran the other way, and it matters in Brickell and Edgewater specifically: the 50% investor-concentration limit on established projects under Full Review was retired with immediate effect. Buildings with heavy rental ownership just had a long-standing barrier removed.

Why a lending rule is a pricing event

48.5% of Miami-Dade condominium sales closed in cash in June 2026. The other 51.5% needed a lender.

When a building fails a Full Review it does not become unsellable. It becomes cash-only, and roughly half of its buyer pool disappears. Set that against supply: Miami-Dade condominiums carried 11,550 listings and 12.3 months of supply in June 2026, with the median price down 3.15% year over year and a median 85 days to contract. Single-family homes, by contrast, sat at 4.9 months with the median up 3.73%.

Losing half your buyers in a 4.9-month market is survivable. Losing half your buyers in a 12.3-month market is a repricing. This is the single most important thing to understand about buying a Miami condominium in 2026, and it is a building-level question, not a unit-level one.

The Number Nobody Publishes: Your Building’s Milestone Year

Florida Statute 553.899 requires a milestone structural inspection of any condominium or cooperative building three habitable stories or more, performed by 31 December of the year the building reaches 30 years of age, and every 10 years thereafter. A local enforcement agency may also determine that local circumstances require the first inspection at 25 years — discretion aimed squarely at buildings close to salt water, which in Miami is most of them.

Here is what that means practically, and why it is the most valuable unpublished data point in this market:

Every condominium in Miami has a first milestone year that follows mechanically from its certificate of occupancy date. Take the CO year, add 30 — or 25 where the local agency has exercised its discretion — and you have the deadline. It is arithmetic. And essentially nobody publishes it building by building, which means most buyers make an offer without knowing whether a structural inspection and the reserve study behind it land inside their intended holding period.

A building that has already been through its milestone and funded the work is frequently a better buy than one that has not: the liability is behind it and the price often has not caught up. A building that has not been through it is offering you a discount whose size nobody has calculated.

Ask for five documents before you offer, in writing:

1. The certificate of occupancy date — and therefore the milestone year
2. The milestone inspection report, if it has been performed, and what it found
3. The structural integrity reserve study (SIRS)
4. The master insurance policy and its per-unit deductible, against the $50,000 ceiling
5. Three years of budgets and reserve balances, against the 15% standard arriving 4 January 2027

A seller who will not produce these has told you something useful. A building that produces them cleanly is worth paying more for, and that premium is rational.

Design-Branded or Service-Branded? The Distinction Most Buyers Pay For Without Knowing

Miami now trails only Dubai in branded residences, and the premium is real. What is rarely explained is that “branded” describes two completely different risk profiles.

A service-brand is a live operating relationship. A hotel or hospitality operator runs the building under a management contract. That contract has a term. It can be renegotiated, and it can end. What you bought — the staffing, the standard, the name over the door — is contingent on a third party continuing to show up.

A design-brand was applied once, at delivery. The architecture, the interiors and the specification are fixed and cannot be withdrawn. Whatever happens to the company afterwards, the building is unchanged.

Both can justify a premium. They carry very different long-run dependency, and they are frequently priced as though they were the same thing. Ask which one you are buying, and ask what the operating agreement says about term and termination — the answer is in the documents, and it is not always the answer the sales gallery implies.

Where the Tiers Actually Begin

“Luxury” is used loosely in this market, so here is the arithmetic. MIAMI Association of Realtors defines luxury as the top 5% and ultra-luxury as the top 1%. For the first half of 2026, in Miami-Dade:

• Condominiums: luxury begins at $3.4 million, ultra-luxury at $10.0 million
• Single-family: luxury begins at $4.3 million, ultra-luxury at $15.0 million

The speed of the move is the more useful fact. At the wider South Florida level, the condominium luxury threshold rose from $2.0 million in 2025 to $2.3 million in the first half of 2026, while the median of the overall condominium market fell 3.15%. The top of this market is repricing upward while the middle repriced downward — which is why a single “Miami condo market” narrative is always wrong.

How to Use This Section

Every building we cover has its own page, and the full A–Z directory sits at the foot of this one. The right sequence for a buyer in 2026 is:

First, shortlist by building, not by unit. Run the five documents above. A beautiful line-through unit in a badly governed building is the most expensive mistake available in this market.

Second, decide which tier you are actually in — $3.4M is the statistical luxury line for condominiums, and marketing language does not move it.

Third, negotiate properly. 12.3 months of supply is the strongest hand condominium buyers have held in years, and it applies at $800,000 and at $8 million.

Related reading: $1M–$3M · $3M–$5M · $5M–$10M · $10M+ · Miami penthouses · the most expensive sales on record · selling a Miami condominium.

Key Takeaways

• Luxury condo sales rose 15.2% year over year in Q1 2026 to a median of $1,841,000, while inventory stayed near 19 months — a market that rewards prepared buyers.
• 2025 was the first full year with a median above $1,000 per square foot for $1M-plus resales, at $1,030.
• Nearly half of Miami-Dade condo sales are cash; in ultra-luxury it approaches 83%.
• Older buildings trade at a discount because of milestone inspections and reserve funding — a risk to underwrite, and sometimes an opportunity.
• Miami is the world’s second-largest branded-residence market, with 48 built and 55 in the pipeline.

Every Miami luxury condo building we track

422 buildings

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average price of a luxury condo in Miami?

The median for $1M-plus condo sales was $1,841,000 in the first quarter of 2026, at roughly $1,040 per square foot. The $2M-plus segment ran a median of about $3.6 million.

Is 2026 a good time to buy a Miami condo?

For buyers, the resale market is favourable: roughly 19 months of luxury inventory and 93 days on market give room to negotiate. New and branded product is the exception — it is scarce and priced accordingly.

Why are some Miami condos so much cheaper per square foot?

Almost always the building’s age. Buildings over thirty years old must complete milestone inspections and fund structural reserve studies, and the resulting assessments are priced into the unit. Review the inspection report, reserve study and assessment history before offering.

What was the most expensive condo ever sold in Miami?

A penthouse at Seaway at The Surf Club in Surfside closed at $86 million in November 2025, about $5,358 per square foot — the Miami-Dade record.

How many Miami buyers pay cash?

Just under half of all Miami-Dade condo sales closed in cash in May 2026, rising above 53% in the $1M–$5M band and to roughly 83% in the ultra-luxury tier.

What is a branded residence and is it worth the premium?

A condominium affiliated with a hotel or luxury brand that sets service and maintenance standards. Branded product carries roughly a 33% global price premium; whether it is worth it depends on how much you value managed service and long-term building standards.

Are foreign buyers still active in Miami?

Yes. Foreign buyers purchased $4.4 billion of South Florida residential property in 2025, up from $3.1 billion, led by Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil, with about half paying cash.

Which Miami neighbourhood is best for luxury condos?

It depends on what you want: Miami Beach and South of Fifth for oceanfront and walkability, Brickell for new branded towers and city life, Coconut Grove and Coral Gables for quieter low-rise luxury, and Surfside and Bal Harbour for the very top of the market.

Explore further: Miami penthouses · waterfront homes · new construction · the 2026–2031 pre-construction pipeline · Brickell · South Beach · selling your condo

What changed for Miami condo buyers on 3 August 2026?

Fannie Mae retired the Limited Review process for established condominium projects under Lender Letter LL-2026-03. Established projects now require a Full Review at every down-payment level unless they have ten or fewer units, which excludes essentially every Miami tower. Since 1 July 2026 a master policy deductible above $50,000 per unit also breaks eligibility, and from 4 January 2027 minimum reserves rise from 10% to 15% of annual budgeted assessment income.

What happens if a building fails a Full Review?

It becomes a cash-only building. Roughly half the buyer pool disappears — 48.5% of Miami-Dade condominium sales closed in cash in June 2026, meaning 51.5% required a lender. With condominiums carrying 12.3 months of supply, that is a repricing rather than an inconvenience.

How do I find out a building’s milestone inspection year?

It is arithmetic. Florida Statute 553.899 requires a milestone inspection of any condominium building three habitable stories or more by 31 December of the year it turns 30, then every 10 years, with a local agency able to require the first at 25 years near salt water. Take the certificate of occupancy year and add 30 — or 25 where that discretion applies. Almost nobody publishes it building by building.

What documents should I ask for before making an offer?

Five, in writing: the certificate of occupancy date and therefore the milestone year; the milestone inspection report if performed; the structural integrity reserve study; the master insurance policy and its per-unit deductible against the $50,000 ceiling; and three years of budgets and reserve balances against the 15% standard arriving 4 January 2027.

Where does luxury actually begin in the Miami condo market?

For the first half of 2026 the top 5% of the Miami-Dade condominium market began at $3.4 million and the top 1% at $10.0 million. Note the divergence: at South Florida level the condominium luxury threshold rose from $2.0 million in 2025 to $2.3 million, while the overall condominium median fell 3.15%. The top repriced upward while the middle repriced downward.

Explore the Miami market

Miami luxury condosWaterfront homesPenthousesLoftsArt DecoCondo hotelsNew constructionSouth BeachBrickellSunny Isles BeachAll neighborhoodsSell your property

Sources and further reading

• Florida Statutes Chapter 718, the Condominium ActGoverns declarations, budgets, reserves, assessments and buyer rescission rights.
• Florida Statutes 553.899, milestone inspectionsThe three-storey and 30-year thresholds that decide whether a building must be inspected.
• Miami-Dade County Property AppraiserOwnership, year built, square footage and assessed value for any Miami-Dade property.
• MIAMI Association of Realtors market reportsMonthly Miami-Dade sales volume, median price and inventory data.
• Florida Building CodeHigh-Velocity Hurricane Zone requirements that apply across Miami-Dade.
• Fannie Mae — Lender Letter LL-2026-03, Updates to Project Standards and Property Insurance Requirements, 18 March 2026singlefamily.fanniemae.com
• The Florida Senate — Florida Statute 553.899, mandatory structural inspectionsflsenate.gov
• MIAMI Association of Realtors — Miami-Dade Real Estate Posts Best June in Three Years, 17 July 2026miamirealtors.com
• MIAMI Association of Realtors — South Florida Luxury Home Market Reaches New Milestones, 23 July 2026miamirealtors.com