Miami, FL
Is Miami losing its luster?
With its lines of palm trees, breathtaking beaches and dazzling lifestyle, Miami has long been a vibrant real estate hotspot in the ever-popular Sunshine State, attracting people from all over the country eager to move in—especially since the pandemic hit.
But in recent months, Miami’s housing market has experienced an unusual slowdown, with listings getting “stale” on the market and sales slumping as buyers shy away from purchasing properties whose prices have eclipsed their pandemic peaks.
According to the latest data from Redfin, 452 homes were sold in June, down from 597 last year. Meanwhile, the median sale price of a home was $600,000 in the same month, up 1.7 percent compared to a year earlier.
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Perhaps because homes are still so expensive in the city and mortgage rates are still hovering around the 7 percent mark, buyers appear reluctant to conclude purchases.
The real estate brokerage reported that homes in Miami remained an average of 83 days on the market before going under contract, up from 75 days last year. A listing is considered “stale” after at least 30 days on the market.
“The Miami market is currently experiencing a slowdown, and many are feeling its impact,” Riley Smith, president of Riley Smith Group with Compass Florida, told Newsweek.
“Several factors are contributing to Miami’s current market conditions. Interest rates coupled with low single-family home inventory remains a challenge, despite some relief in Miami’s condo market inventory,” Smith said.
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“Additionally, we’re returning to pre-COVID seasonality in home transactions. With many people leaving town during the summer, we’re seeing fewer new contracts and less new inventory hitting the market.”
Photo-illustration by Newsweek
Is This the End of Miami’s Magnetic Charm?
According to data from the Miami Association of Realtors, Miami-Dade’s total sales decreased 13.2 percent year-over-year in June, from 2,364 to 2,051. Miami single-family sales declined 3.8 percent year-over-year, from 1,004 to 966. And existing condo sales decreased by 20.2 percent year-over-year, from 1,360 to 1,085.
The association attributes this decline to an ongoing lack of inventory, high mortgage rates, and, in the case of condos, the introduction of new strict regulations for owners and associations, which has caused a selling frenzy in the city.
Despite negative sale numbers, Smith doesn’t believe that Miami has lost its luster for good, attributing the current negative numbers to a seasonal slowdown.
“As we approach the end of the year, I anticipate the market will pick up again,” he said. “Historically, Miami’s market tends to pick up in the fall and winter season. While price reductions may seem more common, sale prices are still consistent and strong. The current slowdown is more about seasonality and inventory than a complete market downturn.”
Miami Association of Realtors Chairman-Elect Eddie Blanco agrees, saying that seasonal declines shouldn’t be misread.
“I feel like whenever you have a brush stroke of the market in general, it’s somewhat misleading. Real estate is so specific that things come down to the specific location of a single home—the neighborhood, the block, the subdivision, the city,” Blanco told Newsweek.
While home prices have experienced a recent downturn in Miami, the bigger picture tells a different story. “The price of single-family homes in Miami has actually gone up 245 percent since 2012,” said Blanco. “We’ve had 151 consecutive months of single-family median home price increases,” he added. “That’s 12.5 years. It’s the longest-running streak we’ve had.”
Blanco minimized the importance of a 3.8 percent year-over-year decline in the sales of single-family homes in Miami in June, as reported by its association.
“It’s not a significant concern,” he said. “That could just be a trend of, I don’t know, maybe the pace of migration. Maybe it’s just concerns over the overall economy. Maybe, in my personal opinion, it’s the election year. But a 3.8 percent year-over-year drop is a very marginal adjustment.”
Redfin data show that pending sales in Miami dropped by 11.7 percent in the four weeks ending June 30—the fourth-largest decline in the country. In the real estate brokerage’s report for the four weeks ending on July 28, Miami no longer appeared among the metropolitan areas with the biggest year-over-year decreases in pending sales.
Addressing concerns of the Miami housing market becoming overvalued due to weather conditions and prices plunging by the end of the year, Blanco said that these worries are “old news.”
“The idea that Florida will be underwater one day has gone around for years, and that obviously hasn’t impacted people’s buying. If it’s true that sea level rise is impacting our market, then we wouldn’t see that level of migration and the level of price increases that we’ve seen over the years,” he added.
That said, Blanco admits that the Miami housing market might be perceived by some people as overvalued, “but that’s because they may not be looking at how Miami has truly blossomed into a real international market in the past 20 years,” he said. “I’ve grown up here, and I watched Miami develop from a vacation destination into an international metropolis.”
When you compare Miami home prices to that of other major international real estate markets like London, “our price per square foot is still a discount,” Blanco said.
The only thing that troubles Blanco when looking at the future of the Miami housing market is not a real estate change but “some kind of global black swan event that could create an exorbitant amount of job loss, which could cause real estate values to come down.”
That doesn’t seem likely to happen at the moment, with the U.S. economy and the country’s job market still going strong. Apart from this, “as long as people can afford to pay the rents and pay the mortgage payments that they’re paying, that they have been paying for years, I don’t see how there could be a significant adjustment and decline,” Blanco said.
Cain and Kushner are launching a South Florida real estate joint venture, planning a luxury apartment tower in Edgewater for their first project, The Real Deal has learned.
London-based Cain, led by Jonathan Goldstein, and New York-based Kushner, led by Laurent Morali and Nicole Kushner Meyer, plan a 40-story, 364-unit project on Cain’s 1.5-acre site at 614 and 720 Northeast 27th Street in Miami, according to a news release. The property is near the Missoni Baia condo tower that Cain co-developed with Vlad Doronin’s OKO Group.
BDT & MSD Partners provided a $42 million loan for the project, which is in the pre-development phase. Construction is expected to start late next year, the release says.
The Cain-Kushner JV is targeting residential and mixed-use investments and developments in the tri-county region.
“We are looking at all opportunities that we think are sensible,” Goldstein said.
Their South Florida JV comes as the region is experiencing another influx of out-of-staters after the pandemic-era boom, only this time the in-migration is primarily of wealthy individuals and their companies amid the blue-to-red-state migration.
Yet, Cain and Kushner’s plans for Edgewater apartments come as the multifamily market has softened due to hefty deliveries in recent years. A record 18,600 units were completed in 2024, outpacing leasing that year by about 20 percent, CoStar Group data shows. Although construction starts have slowed, last year’s 12,718 unit completions still surpassed total leasing for the year by about 1,000 apartments.
It has led to slower lease-ups, more concessions and a drop in the average asking rents across South Florida.
Developers starting projects now have said demand will catch up by the time they finish their buildings, with many adding that South Florida remains a strong apartment market. Many are betting on luxury rentals, which CoStar’s data showed made up the bulk of leasing in recent years.
“We are big believers in South Florida and big believers in Miami,” Goldstein said.
Cain, backed by Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries, has been investing in South Florida for nearly a decade, with the JV in some ways marking its second chapter in the region.
Cain’s most recent project is the Delano Miami Beach renovation. The hotel, which closed in 2020, is expected to reopen in time for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix early next month.
Aside from the Missoni Baia condo tower, Cain also partnered with OKO on the Una Residences condo tower in Brickell and the 57-story 830 Brickell office tower. The office building was completed in 2024 fully pre-leased, catching a demand surge during the pandemic-era in-migration of out-of-state companies to Miami. Cain also is an investor in Doronin’s hospitality firm Aman Group.
Kushner has a presence in Miami’s Edgewater, completing the 37-story, 420-unit apartment tower at 2000 Biscayne Boulevard in 2024, with plans for more residential development next-door at 1900 Biscayne Boulevard. It also purchased the 276-unit Hamilton apartment building at 555 Northeast 34th Street from Aimco.
Elsewhere, Kushner plans a 932-unit multifamily development at 300 West Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. It borrowed a $115 million construction loan last year for a luxury 68-unit apartment project in Surfside. And it scored approval in October for a 470-unit rental building and synagogue development near Hollywood’s Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
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The right-hander consistently set the tone early, either landing a first-pitch strike or inducing a foul
The Miami Heat are heading into another crucial offseason, and they MUST make changes. This team has been mediocre for the past few seasons and has been stuck in the Play-in Tournament. The Heat can’t currently compete with the way the roster is constructed. They need to trade for a star who can lead this team, and if a star becomes available, Miami will be involved. The real question is which direction actually makes the most sense.
The Heat could go after three potential targets this summer: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, and Donovan Mitchell. Who should Miami target? Let’s stack rank them based on fit, risk, and potential.
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo: The Only Move That Changes Everything
The Miami Heat need to go all-in for Giannis. This is a trade that would completely reshape the franchise. Giannnis could potentially turn the Heat into a contender overnight. Even with his recent injury cutting his season short, nothing about his overall impact has changed. He still bends defenses in a way very few players can. Teams build entire game plans around simply trying to slow him down, and most of the time, it doesn’t work.
The Miami Heat have desperately needed a true superstar who can take over games late in crunch time. The Heat have been relying on undrafted players and role players to create and execute their offense. Giannis flips that instantly by creating advantages on his own, possession after possession.
I think the most interesting part will be pairing Giannis with Bam Adebayo. They would automatically become the best defensive frontcourt duo in the NBA. Giannis and Bam could both guard 1-5, and their switchability and rim protection would be elite. Offensively, Bam’s versatility allows Giannis to stay aggressive without needing to adjust his game too much.
The risk is obvious. Injuries have started to creep into the conversation, and committing everything to one player always carries weight. Still, Miami has never been a franchise that plays it safe. If Giannis is available, the conversation starts and ends there.
2. Donovan Mitchell: The Cleanest Basketball Fit
If Giannis is the bold swing, Mitchell is the move that makes the most basketball sense from top to bottom. At this stage of his career, Donovan Mitchell knows exactly who he is as a player. He can control tempo, create offense in isolation, and take over stretches of games when things stall out and that is something Miami has struggled with consistently.
This is less about transforming the roster and more about fixing a specific problem. The Heat have lacked a reliable perimeter engine. Mitchell fills that gap immediately. What makes him especially appealing is how easily he fits into different lineups. He doesn’t need the ball every possession to be effective, but he can handle that role when needed. That flexibility matters on a team that values structure as much as Miami does.
There’s also a timeline advantage here. Mitchell is younger than the other options and doesn’t come with the same long-term durability concerns. He gives Miami a clearer runway to build around, rather than a shorter window that demands immediate results. He may not bring the same overwhelming presence as Giannis, but he raises the overall level of the team in a way that feels sustainable.
3. Kawhi Leonard: Elite Talent With Too Many Variables
When Kawhi Leonard is available and healthy, he’s still one of the most controlled and efficient players in the league. His season with the Los Angeles Clippers was a reminder of that. Playing 65 games was a big step, and when he was on the floor, he looked like himself, methodical, physical, and impossible to speed up. From a pure basketball standpoint, he fits Miami’s identity. He defends, doesn’t force offense, and thrives in structured environments.
The hesitation comes from everything outside of that. Kawhi’s availability has been unpredictable for years, and even in seasons where he plays a high number of games, there’s always uncertainty about how things will hold up deep into a playoff run. Age adds another layer. Miami wouldn’t just be trading for a player; they’d be betting on a timeline that may already be shrinking. There’s no denying the upside. A healthy Kawhi still moves the needle in a big way. It’s just harder to justify that gamble compared to the other two options.
Final Take
Each path offers something different. Giannis is the all-in swing that could put Miami back in the championship conversation overnight. Mitchell is the calculated move that stabilizes the offense and fits long-term. Kawhi is the wildcard, still elite, but with more uncertainty than the Heat can comfortably ignore.
If Miami is serious about breaking out of the middle, they need to pick a direction and commit fully. Giannis is the dream, Mitchell is the smartest bet, and Kawhi is the toughest sell.
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