Real Estate Edition - After a Slower Year in 2025, Florida’s Market Is Showing New Momentum
Welcome to the Key Biscayne Stories podcast real estate edition. I'm your host Alejandro Servalli, your neighbor and realtor with iRealty here in Kiwi Scain. Today, we're gonna talk about the Florida market cooling in 2025 and a potential rebound emerging. Whether you're a homeowner or whether you're renting, whether you're thinking about buying, this information is for you. So what happened?
Alejandro Servalli:Over the past two years, buying a home became more expensive, not because prices suddenly exploded again, but because mortgage rates went up. When mortgage rates go up, monthly payments go up, and when monthly payments go up, fewer people qualify. So, what happens? Buyers pause, homes stay on the market longer, inventory, meaning the number of homes for sale increase. But here's something important.
Alejandro Servalli:Inventory increased mostly because homes were sitting longer, not because thousands of new homes suddenly flooded into the market. That's a big difference. It's not a crash, it's a slowdown. Slowdown is not a crash, just to be clear. Why did it slow down?
Alejandro Servalli:It wasn't just Florida. Around the world, economies slowed a little. Interest rates were high. Inflation stayed stubborn. There was global uncertainty.
Alejandro Servalli:People fear uncertain, they wait. And real estate is one of the first things people pause on, especially international buyers. And Florida, especially South Florida, depends a lot on international buyers. The good news, international buyers are returning. Now, here's where it gets interesting.
Alejandro Servalli:International purchases in Florida increased by 50% compared to last year. That's significant. That tells us something important. Confidence may be coming back. The Canadian buyers increased their spending.
Alejandro Servalli:Colombian buyers made a strong comeback. Brazil and Mexico were active again. These international communities are very important here in Miami. And almost half of the international purchases happened here in South Florida. So yes, what happens globally touches us locally.
Alejandro Servalli:International money is slowly reentering Florida real estate again. Now, what about prices? Prices did not collapse. Florida's medium sale price for international buyers dipped slightly from 469,000 last year to 442 this year. That's a modest decrease.
Alejandro Servalli:Not dramatic, not a free fall, more like leveling. And here's something important, international buyers are still paying more than overall Florida medium price. That tells us demand is still present, just more cautious. So what is changing now? Mortgage rates have started to ease a little, not dramatically, not enough to matter, but when rates fall even slightly, monthly payments improve.
Alejandro Servalli:Buyers who were waiting start looking again, inventory that was sitting starts moving again. And that is what we're beginning to see. Not a boom, not bidding wars everywhere, just movement. The market is no longer frozen, it's beginning to thaw. Now, what does this mean for South Florida and CubeScan?
Alejandro Servalli:South Florida remains a center of international demand, and CubeScan is a unique micro market. We have limited land, limited inventory, strong lifestyle appeal, and international visibility. Because of that, we tend to slow down more gently and recover more steadily. So when international confidence rises, we feel it, maybe not immediately, but gradually. And markets shift gradually, not overnight.
Alejandro Servalli:So let's reinforce this. 2025 was a cooling year. Cooling does not mean crashing, it means slower. Inventory rose because homes took longer to sell. Now rates are rising.
Alejandro Servalli:International buyers are increasing. Transactions are rising. This combination can signal an early stage of a shift from hesitation to participation, from waiting to acting. That's a pivot. So some final thoughts for you today.
Alejandro Servalli:If you're a homeowner, this is not a collapse year. If you're a buyer, you may be entering a window of opportunity before momentum builds further. If you're an investor, international confidence returning is something to watch closely. And if you're simply observing, remember this, real estate moves in cycles, rarely in extremes. Most of the time it moves gradually.
Alejandro Servalli:And right now, Florida appears to be moving from a cooling phase toward early stabilization. You know, it's not excitement, it's not fear, just steady transition. Thank you for joining me today. If you want to contact me, you can call me at (305) 431-3526. The best thing you can do is shoot me a text or you could also email me at AlejandroServallim@gmail.com
Alejandro Servalli:I'm gonna leave my content information in the show notes.
