President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is making it harder for
foreigners to buy and rent homes, threatening a key pillar of Miami’s half-decade-long economic boom.
Miami, like much of the US, had already been seeing a real estate slowdown d
riven by higher mortgage rates and record prices. South Florida was also hard hi
t by soaring insurance costs and condo maintenance fees, as well as the inev
itable comedown after the pandemic-induced relocation frenzy that made the area a magnet for new arrivals.
Now, conversations with house hunters, brokers and mortgage lenders point to another dynamic at play: Growing concern that
even legal immigrants aren’t safe from ever-changing policy is paralyzing the market in Miami, where more than half the population is foreign born.
Home sales are down more than 17% from a year earlier in Miami, nearly six times the national decline, according to March data
from Redfin Corp. Properties now spend a median of almost 100 days on the market, more than twice the US rate and a sign of waning
demand. In the rental market — which is more likely to cater to undocumented migrants and legal immigrants living temporarily in the
US— prices for one-bedroom apartments have plunged 16% in the past year, Zillow Rentals data show.
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“Some people are afraid — they want to buy or rent, but they say, ‘How can I if I don’t know if next year, or next week, my visa is going t
o be extended or not?'” said Maruja Gil, a real estate agent with Keller Williams
Capital in Miami with almost two decades of experience. “That really affects our market.”
It all points to how quickly Trump’s pledge to undertake the biggest deportation push in history has trickled down to the real estate market in one of America’s most culturally diverse citie
s. Three months into his second term, the president has moved to roll back refugee, asylum and so-called temporary protected status programs for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venez
uela and elsewhere, affecting thousands of people in Miami even as some of these policies are being challenged in court.