The Dollar Is at Its Strongest Since Spring 2025, and Miami Costs More for Foreign Buyers

The U.S. dollar has been strengthening. Trading Economics put the dollar index (DXY) near 102.2 on October 8 and described it as near April 2025 highs. A day earlier, its headline called the level a March 2025 high. The two notes disagree on the month, so I will just call it the dollar's strongest level since spring 2025. The Canadian dollar weakened to about C$1.42 per U.S. dollar in early October, touching 1.42 on October 1, per the same source. These are market quotes on specific dates, and they move every day.

The math for Canadians

This is my own arithmetic at 1.42 Canadian dollars per U.S. dollar. A $1,000,000 Miami condo costs about C$1,420,000 before closing costs, fees or any conversion spread. Every one-cent move in the exchange rate changes that figure by C$10,000. At the Miami-Dade condo median of $408,000 from MIAMI REALTORS' August report, the price in Canadian dollars is about C$579,000.

I don't have verified euro, peso or real quotes for this post, so I won't print them. The direction is the same for any buyer whose savings sit in a currency that has weakened against the dollar: the same Miami property costs more at home. If your money is already held in U.S. dollars, the exchange rate doesn't change your purchase price at all. The backdrop also includes the Fed's September 16 hike, and Trading Economics on October 8 cited Fed Governor Waller saying additional rate hikes will likely be needed to bring inflation back to target.

Who is buying at the top

Foreign demand is not the whole story at the high end. Bloomberg reported that buyers at The Residences at Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key, which has sold $1.7 billion of condos before breaking ground, are “about 65% domestic, higher than is typical for Miami's top end of the market.” I have not seen a new Miami foreign-buyer report this fall, so I would not read one project as a trend.

My read

A stronger dollar is a cost, but it is one cost among several, and Miami's condo market can give some of it back. Miami-Dade condo supply was 12.1 months in August, a buyer's market, and about half of existing condo sales were cash. A cash buyer from Toronto or Montreal with room to negotiate may recover part of the currency hit in price. If you finance in the U.S., Freddie Mac's 30-year average was 7.40% on October 8, so currency and rates are both working against borrowers right now. My advice: choose the property first, then talk to a currency specialist about when to convert. Don't let the exchange rate pick the building for you.