Miami Agents See Less Activity from Foreign Homebuyers

International buyers still rule in Miami’s residential market, but locals and out-of-towners—especially New Yorkers—are gaining ground.

According to a recent survey for the Miami Herald, 33% of real estate professionals are reporting more foreign buyers in Miami-Dade County, a sharp decline from last year, when 56% of brokers said there were more purchasers coming from abroad.

Local buyers, on the other hand, seemed to have increased their presence. In 2015, only 11% of real estate experts surveyed said they saw an increase in local buyers in the residential market,  today that number is 23%. For 20% of brokers, out-of-towners are the main source of homebuying activity, compared with 16% in 2015.

The recently-released survey was conducted by Bendixen & Amandi International, a research and consulting firm that interviewed 100 of the top brokers and industry experts in Miami-Dade County over a period of seven weeks between March and May.

The vast majority of brokers, who spoke anonymously, blamed the political and financial instability around the world, along with the strong dollar, for decreasing foreign activity.

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The changing dynamic in Florida, the top destination for international homebuyers in the U.S. is leading brokers to refocus their efforts on domestic clients.

Dora Puig, a real estate broker in Miami Beach and who participated in the survey, told Mansion Global that last year, 75% of her sales were to U.S.-based buyers. This represents a shift from previous years when her clientele was split evenly between domestic and foreign purchasers.

Ms. Puig says that her outreach to potential buyers—which includes print, direct mail, social media, and special events—is now “very focused on the U.S. market.”

“Last year, just one of my sales at Palazzo Del Sol was to a foreigner [from Russia],” said Ms. Puig, who handles sales and marketing for the new 10-story luxury tower on Fisher Island. “Foreign markets have weakened; their currencies have weakened.”

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According to the experts surveyed, New York is currently the main source of U.S. buyers in Miami.

“When I started making phone calls to clients to let them know I was [in Miami], the floodgates just opened,” Allen Davoudpour, a real estate broker with the Davoudpour Pinsky Team at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, told Mansion Global. “I went from zero listings to $40 million worth of listings in South Florida.”

The agent, who didn’t participate in the Miami Herald survey, decided to move with his family to Miami two years ago to tap into New Yorkers’ interest in the Sunshine State. He travels to the brokerage’s office in New York twice a month to promote Miami listings among his colleagues and keep an awareness of his presence in Florida.

In addition to the warm weather, Mr. Davoudpour believes New Yorkers are drawn to South Florida because of its proximity and ease of travel between the two places. “It is a great getaway from New York,” he says.

To be sure, foreign buyers are still an important source of business for Miami, accounting for 36%, or $6.1 billion, of total sales volume, according to the 2015 Profile of International Home Buyers in Miami Association of Realtors Business Areas, conducted by the Miami Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which includes data for Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties.

Latin America continues to be the main source of international purchases, with four of the top five markets being South American: Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia. Canada is number five.

And foreign buyers spend substantially more on properties than domestic buyers: $590,000 on average compared to $329,869, according to the Miami Association and NAR.

Origin of homebuyers in Miami-Dade County according to real estate professionals surveyed

Source: Bendixen & Amandi International