The issue has been compounded by the number of single-family homes being rented out. In Miami-Fort Lauderdale, 20.5 percent of single-family homes were rented in 2016. Of that share, 29.7 percent were homes in the least valuable third of the market. Much of the existing affordable housing stock is being converted to rentals, leaving many who want to buy with nowhere to turn.

Of the new units added in the Miami area, many weren’t built for the population that needs them the most. A report by the Miami Herald shows that high-rent unit construction is vastly outpacing affordable unit construction.

“We have a surplus of condos and new construction in Miami,” Penman said. “You just see building after building, especially in Edgewater, Brickell, downtown. You price those above market and they just sit for months and months.”

The supply problem is not new to Miami, but a correction is in the works, Duque said. Once those prices come down, they may become more affordable to the populations looking for homes. Competition among sellers will always be beneficial the buyer, he said.

“There’s no doubt that there’s a lot of supply. At the end of the day there’s a lot of good supply,” Duque said. “For your regular, standard units, there’s going to be a slowdown. The problem is that they were built in the same locations. So now [buyers] can figure out, what’s a good unit? Who’s a good developer? Who has good amenities? Your buyer today has the advantage to be able to pick between buildings and sit and wait for somebody to accept an offer. In the luxury market, sellers are gonna be more realistic with pricing.”

Insurance issues

The increasing frequency and strength of tropical storms has hurt homeowners’ pocketbooks, but one insurance scam in particular is drawing the ire of real estate professionals.

It’s known as assignment of benefit. What happens is, typically after a storm causes damage to a home, a vendor will agree to fix the problem if the homeowner signs over the insurance benefits they may receive from the damage. It might sound like a good deal, but vendors often take advantage of the agreement by inflating the cost of their services and in some cases doing shoddy work, according to a report in the Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The report shows that the average vendor claim under this agreement was $17,000, a whopping 50 percent more than non assignment of benefits claims. And that’s not the only cost associated with the agreement: the number lawsuits over the claims jumped from 405 in 2006 to over 28,000 in 2016. And, of course, the inflated claims made to insurance providers in turn drives up insurance rates for homeowners.