Published October 2, 2026 in Market Update

91.5% of Alina Residences Buyers Paid Cash

By Maureen Harmonay

Real estate, Alina Residences Sales January 1 through October 1 2026

Most people know Miami draws cash buyers. But when I sat down with the Alina Residences numbers, one figure stood out from everything else. Of the 47 sales where the file shows how the buyer paid, 43 were all cash. That is 91.5%. The 30-year fixed rate is sitting at 7.28% right now, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, as of October 1, 2026. For most buyers here, that number is beside the point.

Nearly every buyer here skipped the mortgage entirely

Cash is not a bonus at Alina Residences. It is the norm. Only 4 of 47 buyers did not pay cash, and the file does not confirm all four used a conventional loan. Two recorded as contract or other payment types round out that group. The Miami Association of Realtors reported that about 82% of Miami condo sales at $1 million or more were all cash in 2025. Alina runs well above even that. When almost every buyer is writing a check, the market behaves differently than it does almost anywhere else. Florida Realtors reported that statewide sales of condos and townhouses priced above $1 million climbed 41% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, with the $3 million to $5 million range surging nearly 69%. Alina sits squarely in that wave, and the buyers arriving here are coming prepared.

Cash buyers actually took longer to close than buyers with a loan

Here is the part that surprised me. You might expect cash buyers to move fast, no lender approval, no appraisal wait. But the typical cash buyer at Alina took 53 days from listing to sale. The typical buyer who used a loan took 34 days, which is 19 days faster. Cash buyers at this price point are deliberate, and the sellers who plan around a quick cash close should know that. The whole market middle sits at 37 days, so cash sales ran 16 days above it while loan-financed sales ran 3 days below it. If you are a seller counting on speed, the payment type alone will not tell you how fast your buyer will move.

The market moved much faster in the second half of the year

The year split cleanly in two. From January through May 2026, the typical home sat on the market for 89 days and sold for $2,600,000. From May through September 16, 2026, the typical home sold in 26 days and the middle price came in at $935,000. Sellers in the second half also got closer to what they first asked, 96.2% versus 92.3% in the first half, and that 3.9 percentage point gap matters on a home priced in the millions. The mix of homes selling shifted between the two periods, and so did the pace. If you listed this summer, you felt a different market than the one that opened the year. And if you are thinking about listing now, the second half pace is the one most relevant to your timeline.

What this means if you are selling or buying at Alina

If you are selling, price carefully from the start. The typical home sold for 93.2% of what it first asked, and not one listing gave up without a sale. That zero is real. But sellers who had to drop their price still left a gap between their first ask and what they got. The buyers here are experienced. They know what things are worth, and they are not in a rush. A price that is too high does not scare them off. It just makes them wait. The 89-day typical stretch in the first half of the year is proof of that. Getting the price right at the start is the single thing most likely to close that gap between what you ask and what you get.

If you are buying, know that you are almost certainly competing against cash. The Miami Association of Realtors, via CNBC, noted that Miami leads the country for cash buyers at the luxury level. Miami-Dade also added more than 10,600 private-sector jobs in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and average weekly wages here topped the national average in early 2026. This is a market with real economic depth behind it, and the buyers reflect that. If you are financing, your offer can still win, but your timeline needs to be tight and your terms need to be clean. The loan-financed buyers in this data closed in 34 days. That is the bar you are competing against.