Miami’s international buyer landscape is undergoing a significant shift, with traditional Canadian snowbirds retreating while South American investors show renewed interest, particularly in new construction projects, according to Maite Munoz of Prime One Realty.
“Travel to the US is down from the Canadian side,” Munoz says, pointing to multiple factors including tariffs, political tensions, and immigration concerns. This represents a notable change for Miami’s real estate market, where Canadian snowbirds have historically been reliable buyers.
According to Munoz, heightened border scrutiny and political rhetoric from Washington have created uncertainty for some international buyers. “Some travelers have been scooped up in some of these things,” she notes, referring to increased immigration enforcement that has made some foreign buyers hesitant.
While Canadian interest has cooled, Munoz reports strong activity from South American buyers, particularly in the pre-construction market. “Where we are seeing a lot of interest, at least as far as searches are concerned, are from people in South America who don’t seem, at least as of yet, as affected by the macro level aspects of it,” she observes.
Argentina, Venezuela, and Chile lead the surge in property searches, Munoz notes. However, these buyers show distinct preferences compared to traditional international investors: “They’re not looking for these existing condos or existing single family homes, they want that brand new construction that may not even be off the ground yet.”
This shift in buyer behavior is creating divergent trends in Miami’s real estate market, Munoz explains. While new development projects benefit from continued international interest, the existing inventory market faces different challenges.
“Is it good? Is it bad? I guess it’s good for new development,” Munoz says. “It’s good for the realtors that are representing the new development and that can pivot towards that. But it’s not overall affecting the buying for the inventory of existing homes that’s out there.”
Prime One Realty continues to monitor these evolving buyer patterns. Munoz suggests that while search activity remains strong from South America, the key metric will be conversion rates from interest to actual purchases. “How many of those materialize and actually move from the act of searching to buying? We have to see,” she notes.
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