Miami Real Estate Magazine — November 2026 (Vol. 1, Issue 5)

Miami Real Estate Magazine · Volume I, Issue V · November 2026
By Rabia Mohad ep Roig, Beachfront Realty

In This Issue, in Brief

• Amendment 3, approved by Florida voters on November 3, 2026: what changes for homestead and non-homestead property owners starting in 2027.
• South Florida market, September 2026: single-family medians rose in Miami-Dade ($692,000), Broward ($641,500) and Palm Beach ($656,000), while condo supply stayed long in Miami-Dade and Broward.
• Palmetto Bay had the tightest single-family supply in Miami-Dade in the third quarter of 2026, at 3.3 months.
• Thalatta Estate: the 1926 bayfront house in Palmetto Bay that the Village bought in 2005 and named for the sea.
• Deering Estate: Thalatta's neighbor to the north, from the 1896 Richmond Cottage to the 1922 Stone House.
• Mortgage rates: the 30-year fixed averaged 7.18% on November 5, 2026, according to Freddie Mac.

Volume I | Issue V November 2026

The House Named for the Sea

Palmetto Bay · Market Intelligence · South Florida Living

Rabia Roig

A Note from Rabia

A Little Further South

On November 3, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment that will change how property taxes are calculated for homeowners.

The changes begin next year. The details matter, and not everyone will benefit in the same way.

Last month I asked what in your neighborhood has refused to change, and what you would fight to keep. Keep the answers coming. I'm collecting them.

This month's place answered that question with a checkbook.

Palmetto Bay sits just south of Pinecrest, between US-1 and the bay. Most of us know it as the stretch of Old Cutler Road we drive on the way to somewhere else.

I started the morning in Pinecrest, where last month ended,
with coffee from a roaster still warm.
An hour later I was a little further south,
standing at a carved door named for the sea.

Behind one of its hedges stands a house from 1926, named after the sea. In 2005, a village barely three years old bought it, and spent about a third of its budget doing so.

Rates, meanwhile, have eased for three weeks in a row. Still above 7%. Still worth a conversation.

The tax news first. Then the numbers. Then the house.

Property Taxes

Amendment 3, in Plain Words

On November 3, Florida voters approved Amendment 3 with 62% of the vote. It needed 60%. It is now part of the state constitution, and it takes effect on January 1, 2027.

IF THE HOME IS YOUR HOMESTEAD

The exemption on non-school property taxes grows to $150,000 of assessed value in 2027, and to $250,000 in 2028. From 2029, that amount is adjusted each year for inflation. The $25,000 exemption on school taxes does not change.

IF IT IS NOT

Second homes, rental property and commercial buildings don't receive the homestead exemption. What changes for them is the cap: starting in 2027, their assessed value can rise by no more than 5% a year, down from 10%.

IF YOU ARE NEW TO FLORIDA

The amendment draws a line at December 31, 2026. Someone who had no permanent residence in Florida on that date, and claims a homestead from 2027 on, starts with a non-school exemption of up to $50,000, an amount adjusted each year for inflation beginning in 2028. The larger amount begins with their fifth year of exemption. From 2030, a county or city may shorten that wait by a two-thirds vote of its governing body, for what the text calls a critical local need.

WHAT LOCAL GOVERNMENTS MAY SPEND IT ON

Counties and cities may use their property taxes only for public safety, meaning police, fire and emergency medical services; education and public schools; infrastructure such as roads, bridges and stormwater; natural-resource projects, including flood control; local bonds and existing debt; retirement benefits for their employees; and the operations and administration of county officers and municipalities, along with expenditures their governing bodies approve, unless general law prohibits them.

That last category is wide. How narrow the list proves in practice will be decided budget by budget.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR BILL

The 2026 tax bills arriving now are not affected. The change begins with 2027 assessments, billed in late 2027.

How much any one owner saves depends on the home's assessed value, the local tax rates and individual circumstances. There is no single number that applies to everyone, and I won't pretend otherwise.

Before you decide. I'm not a tax advisor. Your county property appraiser and a tax professional can tell you what this means for your home. I can help you think through what it means for buying or selling.

Sources: Enrolled CS/HJR 1F (2026), Florida Legislature, and Florida Department of State, Amendment 3; results as reported November 4, 2026.

Market Pulse

The Market in One Minute

The short version, before the sea.

September looked a lot like August. Total home sales slipped year over year again in all three counties: 2.0% in Miami-Dade, 3.2% in Palm Beach, 9.8% in Broward.

Single-family prices held their ground. Medians rose in every county, and single-family supply stayed under six months everywhere, which favors sellers.

Condos tell a different story. Prices split: up 5.1% in Miami-Dade and 3.3% in Palm Beach, down 14.5% in Broward. And supply is long: 12.3 months in Miami-Dade and 10.2 in Broward, both buyer's markets. South Florida is not one market. It is at least two, sharing the same weather.

And the 30-year rate, after touching 7.28% in early October, has drifted down three weeks running.

Fewer sales. Firm house prices. Condos going their own way. A little relief on the money.

• $692,000: Miami-Dade single-family median (▲ 4.1%)
• $641,500: Broward single-family median (▲ 6.6%)
• $656,000: Palm Beach single-family median (▲ 3.5%)
• 7.18%: 30-year fixed, Nov. 5 (Freddie Mac)

Sources: MIAMI REALTORS® + RWorld, September 2026 monthly statistics; Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey®, November 5, 2026.

Market Pulse — Miami-Dade

Fewer Homes, Firmer Floors

Miami-Dade closed 1,735 sales in September, 2.0% fewer than a year ago. Total active listings fell 10.0% to 16,288.

The single-family median rose 4.1% to $692,000, with 5.1 months of supply: a seller's market. The condo median rose 5.1% to $417,090, yet condo supply stands at 12.3 months: a buyer's market. Condo prices rose, even with buyers holding plenty of choice. Same county, same month, two different conversations.

One detail for this issue, from the quarterly rankings rather than the monthly report: in the third quarter, Palmetto Bay had the tightest single-family supply in Miami-Dade, at 3.3 months. First on the county's list of hot markets.

• $692,000: Single-family median (▲ 4.1%)
• $417,090: Condo median (▲ 5.1%)
• 16,288: Active listings (▼ 10.0%)
• 5.1 / 12.3: Months of supply (Single-family / condo)

Graphics: MIAMI REALTORS® + RWorld. Top: September 2026 monthly indicators. Bottom: Q3 2026 hot markets, ranked by months of supply.

Source and graphics: MIAMI REALTORS® + RWorld, South Florida Market Intelligence. Sales, prices, listings and supply are September 2026 monthly figures, compared with September 2025. Hot markets are Q3 2026 quarterly rankings.

Market Pulse — Broward

Two Markets, One County

Broward closed 1,845 sales in September, 9.8% fewer than a year ago. Total active listings fell 13.9% to 14,072.

Single-family homes posted the strongest price gain of the three counties: the median rose 6.6% to $641,500, with 4.2 months of supply, a seller's market. Condos went the other way. The median fell 14.5% to $235,000, and 10.2 months of supply made it a buyer's market.

• $641,500: Single-family median (▲ 6.6%)
• $235,000: Condo median (▼ 14.5%)
• 14,072: Active listings (▼ 13.9%)
• 4.2 / 10.2: Months of supply (Single-family / condo)

Graphics: MIAMI REALTORS® + RWorld. Top: September 2026 monthly indicators. Bottom: Q3 2026 hot markets, ranked by months of supply.

Source and graphics: MIAMI REALTORS® + RWorld, South Florida Market Intelligence. Sales, prices, listings and supply are September 2026 monthly figures, compared with September 2025. Hot markets are Q3 2026 quarterly rankings.

Market Pulse — Palm Beach

Still a Seller's Market

Palm Beach County closed 1,933 sales in September, 3.2% fewer than a year ago. Total active listings fell 17.3% to 10,487.

The single-family median rose 3.5% to $656,000. With 3.6 months of supply, single-family homes remain a seller's market. The condo median rose 3.3% to $310,000, with 6.8 months of supply, the one county where condos sit in balance.

• $656,000: Single-family median (▲ 3.5%)
• $310,000: Condo median (▲ 3.3%)
• 10,487: Active listings (▼ 17.3%)
• 3.6 / 6.8: Months of supply (Single-family / condo)

Graphics: MIAMI REALTORS® + RWorld. Top: September 2026 monthly indicators. Bottom: Q3 2026 hot markets, ranked by months of supply.

Source and graphics: MIAMI REALTORS® + RWorld, South Florida Market Intelligence. Sales, prices, listings and supply are September 2026 monthly figures, compared with September 2025. Hot markets are Q3 2026 quarterly rankings.

Hurricane Season & Insurance

Closing the Season

Rates are one cost. Insurance is the other.

Hurricane season officially ends on November 30. The calendar closes. The paperwork doesn't.

For owners, this is a quiet month to file the season away properly: the wind-mitigation report, the roof permit date, the renewal date on the policy. Next June, you'll be glad they're in one folder.

For buyers, nothing changes. The insurance quote still belongs early, before the offer, not after.

I'm not an insurance agent, and every policy is different. A licensed agent can quote your home. I can help you know what to ask.

Rabia's Tip. Keep one folder, paper or digital, for the roof permit, the four-point inspection and the wind-mitigation report. It's the first thing an insurer asks for, and the last thing anyone can find.

Interest Rates

Three Weeks Down

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.18% on November 5, down from 7.24% a week earlier and the third weekly decline in a row. A year ago it was 6.22%. The 15-year averaged 6.57%.

WHAT IT MEANS

On a $500,000 loan, principal and interest come to about $3,387 a month at 7.18%. At last year's 6.22%, the same loan was about $3,069.

That's roughly $318 more every month, before taxes and insurance. About the same gap as last month: a year ago, rates were falling too. This month, at least, the rate moved in the right direction.

Before you decide. These are national averages, not offers. Your own rate depends on your credit, your down payment and the loan. Talk to a lender before you decide anything.

Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey®, November 5, 2026. Payment figures are illustrations of principal and interest only.

A Note on Stretching

A Third of the Budget

In 2005, Palmetto Bay was three years old.

It bought four acres on the bay for $3.6 million. Grants covered most of it. The Village still put about a third of its municipal budget toward the purchase.

I'd love to have heard that council meeting.

Every buyer has a version of it. The house that costs a little more than the spreadsheet wanted. The street that asks you to stretch.

Sometimes the answer is no, and it should be. Sometimes the thing you stretch for is the thing you're still glad about twenty years later.

What I've Learned. Know your number before you fall in love. Then know which one thing would make you break it, and why.

Coffee with Rabia

Some neighborhoods tell you who they are from the road. Palmetto Bay mostly doesn't.

Old Cutler Road gives you hedges, a bike path, the occasional gate. The bay is right there, just past the hedges, and you'd never know it.

I think that's the point. Some places keep the best part for the people who turn in.

— Rabia

Development Watch

What the Village Is Reviewing

Palmetto Bay's site-plan list is short and telling. Three of the five applications concern schools. The proposal to watch is the 175-unit apartment building.

Palmer Trinity School

Site-plan changes for a pool, athletics and an arts building. Approved by the Village.

Christ Fellowship Academy

A request to add seventh and eighth grades. Under review.

A 175-Unit Apartment Building

Filed in June in the Village's Main Street sector. Under review.

Why It Matters. Most of Palmetto Bay is zoned for single-family estates. The downtown sector is where density is being asked for, one application at a time. Worth watching.

Source: Village of Palmetto Bay, current administrative site plans, updated October 6, 2026.

Neighborhood Spotlight

Palmetto Bay

The House Named for the Sea

Neighborhood Spotlight · I

Arrival

On September 10, 2002, Palmetto Bay became a village.
Its first council met on November 7.
Twenty-four years ago this week, more or less.
The county handed over three parks.
Most of them needed work.
The Village took them anyway.

Neighborhood Spotlight · II

The House

The front door, carved wood behind iron.

In 1926, the Connett family built a house on the bay.
Two stories, and a tower for a third.
Red clay tile. Stucco. Round arches.
Carved wood doors, wood beams,
and floors of Cuban tile, still there.
They called it Thalatta.
It comes from the Greek for the sea.
Some names describe a place.
This one describes the view.

Next door, a stone horse rears above the hedge.
It has been about to leave for years.

Neighborhood Spotlight · III

The Decision

In 2005, the Village bought it.
Four acres, $3.6 million.
The Village set aside about a third of its budget.
Grants, in the end, paid most of it.
In 2007, the council gave the park back its old name.
Thalatta.
As if the house had been waiting to be asked.

By the door, a bronze plaque, dedicated October 2007.
It lists four funds that helped pay,
and thanks the Trust for Public Land.
Even generosity, here, gets a plaque.

A town is what it chooses to keep.

Neighborhood Spotlight · IV

The Water's Edge

A path runs from the house down to the bay.
On the northeast side, the mangroves take over.
Herons. Pelicans.
Iguanas, behaving as if they paid for the land.
In September 2023, the shoreline was shored up.
A sign by the wall says who paid for it.
The bay, as usual, was not consulted.
The trail connects to the Old Cutler bike path,
so you can arrive the slow way.
The Village rents the house for weddings now.
There is a bridal suite
in a home built for one family by the sea.

Neighborhood Spotlight · V

The Village of Parks

Palmetto Bay calls itself the Village of Parks.
It registered the phrase.
Coral Reef Park: fifty-three acres, a pinelands preserve, a meditation garden.
Palmetto Bay Park, which answered to Perrine Park until 2006.
Ludovici Park, two and a half acres on the bay,
with a small amphitheater facing the water.
Not one skyline in sight.
Nobody here seems to miss it.

Neighborhood Spotlight · VI

The Neighbor to the North

A little north on Old Cutler Road, another house faces the same bay.
No story of this shore is complete without it.

In 1864, John and Mary Addison set up the first permanent homestead here.
Later came a town, platted as Cutler,
and in 1896, Samuel Richmond's wooden cottage,
which by 1900 had opened as a hotel,
the first, it was said, between Coconut Grove and Key West.

Beginning in 1913, Charles Deering, the Chicago industrialist,
bought the land around it, and then the cottage itself.
In 1922, he built something else entirely:
the Stone House, Mediterranean Revival,
with walls eighteen inches thick.
Wood beside stone. The pioneer's house beside the patron's.
He died there in 1927.

On August 9, 1985, the State of Florida and Miami-Dade County
bought the estate together, for $22.5 million, to keep it.

In 1992, Andrew pushed a storm surge of 16.6 feet onto this shore.
The cottage of 1896 held on, badly hurt.
The 1900 addition suffered most; roughly three-quarters of the structure collapsed.
On March 27, 1999, the estate opened its doors again.

Under all of it, older than any name on the road,
a hardwood hammock and a burial mound.

We walked those grounds in September.
This time I only want to note the family resemblance:
two Mediterranean houses from the same boom,
a few minutes apart on the same road,
and two public decisions, one by the state and the county, one by the village,
to keep them.

Sources: Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department, Deering Estate at Cutler Final Management Plan (September 10, 2013); Deering Estate Foundation; Deering Estate historical marker; National Register of Historic Places.

Rabia's Notebook

One year I volunteered at the Deering Seafood Festival.
They put me on beer.
The Junkanoo dancers came through on stilts, taller than the palms.
I kept pouring.

Neighborhood Spotlight · VII

Right of Way

The peacocks don't live anywhere in particular.
They live everywhere.
Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, the middle of the road.
They don't move for cars.
Nobody here expects them to.

Luxury Watch

The Thirty-Million-Dollar Year

From January through September, Miami-Dade closed 24 home sales above $30 million. All of 2025 had 21.

Palm Beach County also closed 21 sales above $30 million from January through September, matching its full-year 2025 total. Counting a lower threshold, it recorded 179 sales above $10 million between January 1 and October 14, the most in any calendar year in its history.

In 2005, a village bought four acres on Biscayne Bay, a 1926 house included, for $3.6 million.

This year in Miami-Dade, that would buy barely an eighth of one of those houses.

Luxury keeps its own arithmetic. So do villages.

Sources: MIAMI REALTORS® + RWorld, county releases of October 16, 2026 (year-to-date luxury counts; these figures do not appear in the monthly graphics); Village of Palmetto Bay.

Did You Know?

Five Things You May Not Know About Palmetto Bay

— The name Thalatta comes from the Greek word for the sea.

— The Thalatta house still has its original Cuban tile floors.

— Palmetto Bay Park was called Perrine Park until the Village renamed it in 2006.

— "Village of Parks" is a registered trademark of the Village.

— Ludovici Park, on the bay, sits right next to the Palmetto Bay branch library.

Source: Village of Palmetto Bay.

South Florida Book Club

This Month

Book

Some books capture a place without ever trying to explain it. Lauren Groff's Florida is one of them. Humid, unpredictable, beautiful and occasionally unsettling — rather like the state itself.

A Question for Next Month

If your town could buy one place to keep forever, which would it be?

Market Snapshot

November 2026 at a Glance

September 2026 monthly figures, the latest released.

• 7.18%: 30-year fixed (Nov. 5, 2026)
• 6.57%: 15-year fixed (Nov. 5, 2026)
• $417,500: U.S. median price, Sept. (▲ 1.3%)
• 3.99M: U.S. existing-home sales, Sept. (▼ 2.2% YoY)

County figures: September 2026 monthly data from the MIAMI REALTORS® + RWorld graphics shown in this issue; changes compare September 2026 with September 2025. National figures: National Association of REALTORS®, September 2026 Existing-Home Sales, released October 13, 2026. Rates: Freddie Mac PMMS®, November 5, 2026. Luxury figures appear separately in Luxury Watch.

Until Next Month

I keep thinking about that council in 2005. Three years old, a modest budget, and a house on the water nobody was making them buy.

They could have let it go. Somebody would have built something nice there, probably.

Instead they stretched, and gave the house back its name.

Twenty years on, the sea is still the view. That was the point.

Until next month.
— Rabia

Next Month — December 2026

Inside the Next Issue

South of the city, another Miami took shape. Its story is written in railroad tracks, pioneer houses and the people who stayed.

Rabia Roig · Beachfront Realty · AHWD · e-PRO · CIPS · CAM
305-484-4367 · onshorerealty@gmail.com · rabiaroig.mybeachfrontrealty.com

Beyond the Sale

Association & Rental Management

Not every real estate question ends at the closing table. Some begin there.

Community Associations

I am a Florida Community Association Manager (CAM). For condominium and homeowners' associations, that covers the work boards rely on: budgets, meetings and records, vendors and maintenance, and the day-to-day administration that keeps a community running.

Rental Property

For owners of rental homes and condos, I help with leasing, tenant placement and lease coordination, as a licensed sales associate working through Beachfront Realty, Inc.

A Note on Scope. I'm not an attorney or an accountant. When a question turns legal or financial, I'll help you find the right professional and stay with you through the process.

Thank you for reading, for sharing, and for the questions you send back. They shape the next issue more than you know.

With appreciation and warmth,

Let's Stay in Touch

If you'd like the numbers for your own street, or a quiet conversation about a move, write to me. No pressure attached.

LinkedIn · Facebook · Instagram · Website · 305-484-4367 · onshorerealty@gmail.com

About the Author

Rabia Mohad Ep Roig

Florida Real Estate Sales Associate with Beachfront Realty, Inc. AHWD · e-PRO · CIPS · Community Association Manager (CAM). I work in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

As a Certified International Property Specialist, I work with real estate professionals across the Americas and the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. When a purchase crosses a border, that network means a trusted local colleague on the other side.

305-484-4367 · onshorerealty@gmail.com · rabiaroig.mybeachfrontrealty.com
Beachfront Realty, Inc. · 517 Arthur Godfrey Rd, Miami Beach, FL 33140 · License 3500164