• From the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2014, the share of all homes purchased by LLCs in Miami increased from 5 percent to 10 percent.
• As of the end of the first quarter, 58 percent of homes in Miami-Dade County were purchased with cash.
• As of the end of 2014, condos represented 57 percent of home purchases in Miami-Dade County.

The real estate market in Miami is utterly unique compared to the U.S. as a whole, notable not only for who is buying and selling homes, but also for the way Miami real estate is purchased and the kinds of homes bought and sold.

Purchases and sales recorded by Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) represent a much larger share of transactions in the Miami area than the nation at large, as do purchases made with cash. Additionally, the composition of transactions (condo vs. single-family homes) also differs drastically from the norm.

More LLCs…

Real estate bought and sold under an LLC is not exactly rare in the United States, but it is atypical. Many LLC purchases are made by investors, private parties purchasing an expensive home and/or foreign buyers.

In Miami, the share of all homes purchased by LLCs has been increasing over time, according to a Zillow analysis of public records data. From the beginning of 2010 through the end of 2014, the share of condos in the Miami area purchased by LLCs more than doubled, from 6 percent to 13 percent. Over the same time, the share of all Miami-area homes purchased by LLCs rose from 5 percent to 10 percent. Nationwide, the share of all homes purchased under an LLC was only 5 percent at the end of 2014 (figure 1).

More Cash…

Miami also boasts a large share of homes purchased with cash. As of the end of the first quarter of 2015, 58 percent of purchases in Miami-Dade County were made with cash (figure 2). Cash purchases are popular in Florida in general, as four of the top five metro markets nationwide for cash sales are in the Sunshine State. But Miami was not always as cash friendly as its neighbors. In the first quarter of 2005, the share of homes purchased with all cash in Miami’s was only 19 percent, among the metros with the smallest share of cash buyers at the time. It should be noted that a decade ago, homes were also more expensive in Miami, making them more difficult to finance completely with cash.

More Condos

Nationwide, most homes purchased are typically freestanding, single-family homes. But not in Miami. Nationwide, condos represented 17 percent of all homes purchased as of the end of 2014. In Miami-Dade County as of the end of 2014, condos made up 57 percent of all purchases, in part because condos represent a larger share of the total housing stock in Miami than in other areas. In Broward County, just north of Miami, 41 percent of homes purchased as of the end of 2014 were condos, closer to the shares seen in Los Angeles County and San Diego County, where 27 percent and 31 percent of homes purchased were condos, respectively (figure 3).