For buyers from Argentina, Chile or Uruguay — where an apartment is a "departamento" — the apartments for sale in Miami are the most direct way to dollarize: a lower ticket than a house, a building with amenities and services, and the option, if you want it, to put it to rent. In the U.S. an apartment you own is called a condo.
Apartment or condo: the same property, two words
Across Latin America it's a departamento or apartamento; in the United States it's a condominium, or condo. It's the same thing: you own your unit outright (fee simple) and you co-own the common areas — lobby, pool, gym, security — and you pay a monthly association fee (HOA) that covers the building's upkeep. Don't get tripped up by the word: when a Miami broker says condo, that's exactly the apartment you're looking for.
Where: Brickell and Edgewater
Brickell is the financial core — branded towers, urban life, walkable — where a studio or one-bedroom starts around US$450,000–US$600,000, with two- and three-bedrooms well above that. Edgewater, on the bay and minutes from the Design District, is newer and a relatively more accessible way into a waterfront tower. Downtown and Sunny Isles round out the map. Within the same building, what moves price is the view (water or city), the floor and the unit line — not just the square footage.
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View apartments →New tower vs resale: pre-construction and the staggered payment plan
Pre-construction's big advantage is the staggered payment plan: instead of paying everything at closing, you contribute during construction — a typical schedule is 10% at reservation, 10% at contract, 10% at groundbreaking, 20% at milestones and the remaining 50% at closing. That locks today's price for a delivery two or three years out and spreads the outlay. Resale, by contrast, gives you a finished unit, a building with a track record of fees, and a view you can see with your own eyes. The choice depends on your horizon and how much certainty you want about the final product.
Rental and management
A Miami apartment can be rented long-term (12 months, stable income) or short-term where the building allows it — not all do, so read the condo rules before buying with rental income in mind. A property manager runs it: finds the tenant, collects, coordinates maintenance. To run the real numbers you must subtract the HOA fee, property tax (around 2% a year) and management; the gross figure is misleading. Non-resident buyers finance with foreign national loans — 30%–40% down, a slightly higher rate — or pay cash.
