Do Vintage Units Pose Systemic Threat To Prices In South Florida Condo Market?

In this episode of Miami Condo Mondays™, the hosts discuss the repercussions of a new report from the Condo Ratings Agency showing 67% of tricounty units are at least 30 years old.Miami Condo Mondays™ features Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ and veteran broker Jenny Huertas of CVRRealty.com in a weekly deep dive into South Florida condo real estate.Recorded in Greater Downtown Miami, the podcast delivers an hour of high-level analysis on preconstruction condos, market trends and investment strategies for the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.The show leverages more than 60 years of combined institutional knowledge as Zalewski provides the macro perspective and Huertas offers on-the-ground micro insights from her daily experience in the trenches.The show streams live every Monday at 4 pm on the social media accounts of both hosts to provide an authoritative look at the latest shifts in the condo market.Episode OverviewIn this episode of the Miami Condo Mondays™ podcast on May 18, 2026, co-hosts Jenny Huertas of CVR Realty and Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ discuss a new report from the Condo Ratings Agency™ showing the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach has nearly 509,000 Vintage units that are at least 30 years old.The report is notable as it contradicts the talking points of the sellside brokers who claim—on the eve of the five-year anniversary of the Surfside condo collapse in June 2021—that Vintage condos are a nonissue—rather than a systemic risk—as this segment represents only a sliver of South Florida’s Overall market.In reality, the new report shows that Conventional units built since 1997 account for only 33% of the South Florida condo stock.Vintage condos are a primary driver of rising maintenance fees, hefty special assessments and pricey insurance premiums that have led to surging expenses for condo owners.The rising costs of condo living is prompting an increasing number of unit owners to head for the exits, a trend reflected by the first jump in unit sales in four years during the recently concluded 2025-26 South Florida Winter Buying Season of November through April.To unload their units, cash-strapped owners have cut their prices and accepted lower offers.We predicted this phenomenon back in June 2024 when we coined the term the Florida Condo Association Financial Cliff.In January 2025, we called for a 40% price drop in South Florida condo prices driven by the recalibration of the industry and measured against the inflated valuations of the go-go days of 2021-23 when out-of-town buyers flooded into South Florida to work from home and not have to wear a mask during the pandemic.During the 47-minute episode, Huertas and Zalewski review the statistics, examine the charts and provide insightful analysis about what the repercussions could be now that it has been documented that the South Florida condo market is dominated by Vintage units.As part of the 2026 Summer Buying Season initiative to publish episodes more quickly, the podcast summary has been eliminated, meaning viewers should use the timestamped timeline and the Top 10 Takeaways to navigate the show on demand.