A client sat across from me a few weeks ago with two printouts. One was a sales-gallery rendering for a tower that breaks ground next spring. The other was a resale listing in a fifteen-year-old building eight blocks away, already reduced twice.
He asked me which one was the better deal. That is the wrong question, and I told him so. They are not competing for the same dollar. One is a bet on what Miami looks like in three years. The other is leverage you can spend this month.
Most buyers walk into Miami thinking there's a condo market. There are two, and right now they're moving in opposite directions.
New Construction Is Setting the Price. Resale Is Following It.
Here is the split in one sentence: Miami's new-construction condos are getting more expensive while its existing condos are still negotiable.
On the new side, luxury preconstruction contracts in the first part of this year cleared roughly 12% to 18% above initial release pricing. Developers launched far fewer projects than they did in 2022 and 2023 — construction financing got expensive, insurance got expensive, and the projects that penciled were fewer and better capitalized. The ones that are actively selling have often absorbed 60% to 80% of their units before the building is finished. Constrained supply meeting relocation demand does exactly what you'd expect.
On the resale side, Miami-Dade is carrying somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 months of existing condo supply. A balanced market is five or six. That gap is not an accident either — it is what happens when milestone inspections, reserve funding requirements and special assessments hit a generation of older buildings and push a wave of owners to sell in the same window.
So the same city is simultaneously running a seller's market in towers that don't exist yet and a buyer's market in towers you can walk through tomorrow. That leverage on the resale side is real, and I've written about how to actually use it — but it does not extend to a sales gallery, and buyers get this backwards constantly.
You do not negotiate with a developer the way you negotiate with a seller. In preconstruction, your leverage is timing — getting in at an early release tier before the price schedule steps up. In resale, your leverage is the deal itself — price, credits, assessment terms, closing costs. Know which lever you actually have before you pick up the phone.
What the Deposit Schedule Really Asks of You
This is the part that surprises people, and it is where I've seen buyers get themselves in trouble.
The standard Miami preconstruction model is roughly 50% paid during construction and 50% at closing. It typically runs: a reservation deposit around $20,000, then 10% of the purchase price at contract signing, then another 10% at groundbreaking, another 10% at a mid-construction milestone, and often a final 10% installment before closing.
Do the arithmetic on a $1.5 million unit. That is roughly $750,000 out of your pocket before you have a key, spread across two to four years, sitting in escrow and earning you nothing. If your money has a job — a business you're funding, a second property, a portfolio you don't want to liquidate into — that schedule is a real constraint, not a footnote.
Three things I read before I let a client sign a developer contract:
- The escrow language. Where does the deposit sit, who controls it, and under what circumstances is it released to the developer before completion? Florida law provides protections here; those protections vary by deposit tier and contract structure, and they are not identical from project to project.
- The outside completion date. Not the marketing date. The contractual date after which you have remedies. Miami buildings slip. Plan for it.
- The developer's right to modify. Finishes, layouts, amenities and unit mix can change. Understand what is guaranteed and what is a rendering.
None of that means don't buy preconstruction. I've put clients into it and been glad we did. It means go in with the contract read, not the brochure read.
How I'd Choose Between Them
Buy Preconstruction If…
- You want a clean building — no milestone history, funded reserves from day one
- Your timeline is 2–4 years out, not 90 days
- You'd rather stage cash over time than write one large check
- You want the newest product in the strongest corridors
- You can carry the deposits without touching your emergency reserve
Buy Resale If…
- You need a home, an address, or rental income now
- You want to negotiate price, credits and assessment terms
- You'd rather see the actual unit, view and hallway before committing
- You can read a reserve study — or you'll hire someone who can
- A lower basis matters more to you than a new-building premium
The buyers I worry about are the ones who split the difference badly: they commit deposit capital to a 2029 delivery and stretch on a resale unit at the same time, and then a special assessment or a job change shows up and both positions get uncomfortable at once. Pick a lane. Fund it fully. Then look at the second one.
One more thing on the resale side that people underweight. High inventory is not uniformly distributed. A building with a completed milestone inspection, funded reserves and warrantable financing status trades very differently from the tower next door that's on a lender's unavailable list. The 17-month supply number is a regional average, and averages are where deals go to hide. The corporate relocation wave still landing in Brickell, Wynwood and the Palm Beach corridor is not spreading demand evenly either — it's concentrating it.
The Part My Two Licenses Agree On
Everything above is about entry price and timing. Here's what neither column solves.
Whether you buy a 2029 delivery or a 2011 building at a discount, you are taking on a fixed obligation in a city where carrying costs — dues, insurance, assessments — move more than the mortgage payment does. The condo owners who got hurt in the last three years did not get hurt on purchase price. They got hurt by a bill they hadn't reserved for, in a building where the money had to come from somewhere.
So the same three things, regardless of which lane you choose. Six to twelve months of full carrying costs liquid, with dues and a realistic assessment reserve counted in — not just principal and interest. A protection layer put in place while you're healthy and employed, because coverage is not something you get to buy on the day you need it. And a clear-eyed read of the building's financials before you fall in love with the view.
I learned that lesson the expensive way. When I lost my mother in 2012, not long after I'd moved to Los Angeles to rebuild from scratch, I found out what happens to a family when the plan was started but never finished. Nobody in that room was asking about price per square foot.
That's the whole philosophy and it hasn't moved in ten years: buy the home, protect the family, build the legacy. Miami is handing you two very different opportunities right now. Choose the one that matches your money and your timeline — then make sure you can hold it.
Let's Figure Out Which Lane Is Yours
Tell me your budget, your timeline and how much of your cash can be tied up. I'll show you the specific projects and buildings that fit — and the ones I'd walk away from on documents alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it better to buy a preconstruction or resale condo in Miami?
They solve different problems. Preconstruction gets you a brand-new building with a clean reserve picture, no milestone inspection history, and a deposit schedule that spreads your cash out over two to four years instead of demanding it all at closing. But you are buying into a rising price curve — Miami luxury preconstruction contracts have been signing roughly 12% to 18% above initial release pricing, and you generally do not negotiate with a developer. Resale is the opposite trade. Miami-Dade carries somewhere near 17 months of existing condo supply against a balanced market of five or six, so buyers there are still getting price reductions, assessment credits and closing-cost help. Preconstruction is a bet on the finished product. Resale is leverage you can use today.
How do Miami preconstruction condo deposits work?
The standard Miami structure is roughly 50% paid in stages during construction and 50% at closing. It usually starts with a reservation deposit of about $20,000, then 10% of the purchase price when you sign the contract, then additional 10% tranches at groundbreaking and at a mid-construction milestone, and often a final 10% installment before closing. That means a $1.5 million unit can require around $750,000 out of pocket before you ever hold a key, spread over two to four years. Read the escrow language, the completion-date language, and the developer's right to modify finishes before you sign anything. Your deposit is committed capital, and it is not liquid while the building goes up.
Why is Miami resale condo inventory so high while new construction stays tight?
Because two different forces are acting on them. Resale inventory swelled as older buildings absorbed milestone inspections, reserve funding requirements and special assessments, which pushed a wave of owners to sell at the same time and pushed Miami-Dade existing condo supply to roughly 17 months. New construction has the opposite problem: developers launched far fewer projects than they did in 2022 and 2023, financing is more expensive, and active projects have often absorbed 60% to 80% of their units before completion. Constrained new supply meeting relocation demand is why preconstruction pricing keeps moving up while resale sellers keep negotiating.
Agu Ukaogo
South Florida Luxury Realtor & Wealth Protection Strategist. FL Real Estate License: SL3588365. Bridges real estate transactions with life insurance and wealth protection that keeps homes in families. HomeWithAgu.com · (305) 791-0812