Top trends impacting condo and home sales in 2025

Rising maintenance and reserve costs are making older condos more vulnerable to buyouts, especially in prime waterfront locations. Stricter loan requirements, like Fannie Mae's lending blacklist, are blocking many buyers from getting conventional mortgages in hundreds of Florida buildings, undermining property values and slowing sales. Developers are increasingly targeting outdated, 30-year-old properties for redevelopment, triggering more termination deals and difficult choices for residents.

In response to higher housing costs, new affordable housing projects, such as the planned Forest Cove expansion, are partnering with local employers and using innovative financing to provide reasonably priced units for workers. These trends — rising costs and buyouts, tougher lending standards, and new affordable development —are changing how condos, apartments and homes are bought and sold in 2025.

North Bay Village, junto a la bahía y muy cerca de la playa de Miami Beach, recibe proyectos residenciales de lujo, que aumentan precios inmobilarios. Un programa de vivienda de la ciudad ayuda a los residentes y trabajadores esenciales a comprar condos, alquilar o pagar servicios públicos atrasados. By MATIAS J. OCNER

NO. 1: IS YOUR CONDO RIPE FOR A BUYOUT? SEVEN SIGNS THAT DEVELOPERS MIGHT TARGET YOUR BUILDING

The Miami Herald spoke with three real estate experts who weighed in on the telltale signs a condominium is ripe for redevelopment. | Published October 4, 2024 | Read Full Story by rsanjuan@miamiherald.comRebecca San Juan

One Stop Housing plans to build a workforce housing development at 1478 45th Ave Circle West shown here in a photograph taken on Dec. 16, 2024. By Tiffany Tompkins

NO. 2: MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN FLORIDA CLEARS A BIG HURDLE. TAKE A LOOK AT THE PLANS

Rents are estimated to start at $926 per month. | Published April 23, 2025 | Read Full Story by Jason Dill

A view of the Miami skyline off Biscayne Bay includes condos in a file photo from December 2024. By Pedro Portal

NO. 3: HERE’S SOME EXPERT GUIDANCE FOR CONDOS ON FANNIE MAE’S MORTGAGE BLACKLIST

Check out what you should do. | Published May 6, 2025 | Read Full Story by Eduardo J. Valdes

The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.