The Best Miami Condo Buildings for Short-Term Rental Income in 2026

The number-one rookie investor question I get in Miami is some version of: "Which buildings can I rent on Airbnb?" The answer is short — and the reasoning behind it is worth understanding before any offer is written. Most Miami condo buildings prohibit true short-term rentals (daily or weekly stays). A meaningful minority allow them. A smaller subset are explicitly designed for them and run as condo-hotels with operator management. The difference among the three categories drives nearly everything that matters about an investment thesis.

This is the 2026 working map of Miami's short-term-rental condo landscape, the buildings that actually deliver yield, and the framework I use with investor clients to underwrite a deal honestly.

First: Understand the Three Categories

Category 1 — Condo-hotels. Buildings designed and operated as hotels in which individual units are owned by private investors. The hotel operator manages the rental program, marketing, front desk, housekeeping, and revenue. Owners can usually use the unit a defined number of nights per year, with the rest available to the rental pool. Income is split between the owner and operator under a published management contract. Examples in Miami: W South Beach, W Miami (Brickell), Setai Miami Beach, The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour (residences), 1 Hotel & Homes South Beach, Loews Coral Gables, Four Seasons at the Surf Club (limited program), and several smaller boutique-condo-hotels.

Category 2 — Daily / weekly rental-permitted condos. Buildings that allow short-term rentals owner-by-owner without a central hotel operator. The owner manages or hires a property manager. The building bylaws and the local municipality both must allow it. This is a much smaller pool in Miami. Examples have included Brickell-area buildings like Icon Brickell, The Bond on Brickell, certain Mary Brickell Village-area buildings, and a handful of Sunny Isles and Mid-Beach condos. Always verify current bylaws — they change.

Category 3 — Long-term-only condos. Most of Miami's condo inventory. Minimum lease terms typically 30 days, 90 days, six months, or annual. These produce rental income, but at long-term-tenant economics, not short-term-rental economics. Brickell, Edgewater, Coconut Grove, and most of Miami Beach default to this category.

The investment thesis is completely different across the three. A condo-hotel underwrites like a hospitality asset. A daily-rental condo underwrites like a small business. A long-term rental underwrites like a traditional investment property. Mixing the frameworks is the most common underwriting error.

The Headline Condo-Hotel Buildings

For an investor who wants short-term rental exposure without becoming an operator, condo-hotels are the cleanest path. The buildings most often pursued by my investor clients:

W South Beach. Bal Harbour-adjacent on Collins Avenue, full-service operator, strong year-round occupancy. Premium location, premium price per foot.

W Miami (Brickell). Brickell address, urban hotel mix of leisure and business travel. More even seasonality than beach condo-hotels.

1 Hotel & Homes South Beach. Stratospheric brand pull. Higher entry price and slower year-over-year appreciation, but stable resale and operator-managed simplicity.

Setai Miami Beach. Mid-Beach, ultra-luxury operator, very strong nightly rates with corresponding entry pricing.

Loews Coral Gables. Newer condo-hotel addition to the Coral Gables market, with broader use-case appeal (business plus leisure).

Four Seasons at the Surf Club. Limited rental program; many owners are second-home owners rather than rental-pool participants. Investors should verify current program participation rules.

The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour Residences. Branded residences with a Ritz operator presence. Rental policies vary by line and unit; some lines are pool-eligible, others are owner-use.

• A condo-hotel underwrites on:
• Annual gross room revenue (operator-published).
• Operator management fee (typically 40–60% of gross, varying by program).
• HOA fees and replacement reserves (often higher than equivalent residential condos because of hospitality-grade common areas).
• Real-estate taxes, insurance, and capital reserves.
• Owner-use nights (which reduce rental income).
• Resale value, which trades more closely with hospitality multiples than with residential multiples.

A reasonable rule of thumb is that condo-hotels deliver lower net yields than direct daily rentals when both are managed well, in exchange for vastly less owner work and more reliable cash flow.

The Daily-Rental Condo Buildings

For investors who want higher gross yield potential and are willing to operate (or hire a manager), the daily-rental-permitted condo buildings are the playing field. In 2026, this pool is smaller in Miami than buyers expect, and it is highly municipality-dependent.

Critical context on Miami Beach. The City of Miami Beach has aggressive short-term rental restrictions across most single-family zones and many condo districts. Fines are real and substantial. Always verify the building's bylaws and the municipal zoning before you assume short-term rental is permitted.

Critical context on Sunny Isles. Some Sunny Isles buildings have allowed short-term rental for many years and remain among the most operator-friendly options.

Critical context on Brickell. A handful of Brickell condos permit short-term rentals. Most do not. Confirm bylaw-by-bylaw.

The historical short-list of daily-rental-friendly Miami condo buildings has included some Icon Brickell lines, The Bond on Brickell, Brickell House (selected units), Trump International Sunny Isles, Acqualina (limited), Trump Hollywood (Broward, but often grouped in Miami investor conversations), and a small set of mid-2000s Sunny Isles oceanfront product.

This list changes. Bylaws are amended. Municipal codes shift. Always verify in writing for the specific unit you are evaluating.

Underwriting a Real Net Yield

The most common short-term rental modeling mistake is to take peak nightly rates, multiply by 365, and subtract a flat operating expense. The numbers that result are uninvestable. The honest model:

Step 1 — Occupancy assumption. Miami occupancy varies dramatically by season (December–April peak; June–August slower). A reasonable full-year occupancy assumption for a well-managed Miami short-term rental is 65–75%, not 90%+. A new operator should model 55–65% in year one.

Step 2 — ADR by season. Peak-season rates often run two to three times shoulder-season rates. Blend by month. Do not assume the peak-season number.

• Step 3 — Operating expenses.
• Property management: 20–30% of gross revenue for short-term rental management.
• Cleaning: per-turnover, typically $150–$400+ depending on unit size; passed through but often only partially.
• Linens, restocking, supplies: another 5–8% of gross.
• HOA fees: monthly, fixed.
• Utilities and internet: bundled into rental rates but paid by owner; meaningful for daily rentals.
• Insurance with short-term rental rider: more expensive than standard HO-6.
• Real estate taxes: at non-homestead, full assessed value.
• Reserve for in-unit furniture and appliance replacement: 5–7% of gross.

Step 4 — Tax and platform. Florida's bed tax and Miami-Dade tourist development taxes apply, often automatically remitted by the major platforms. Verify.

Step 5 — Vacancy and ramp. The first year is almost always slower than steady-state. Underwrite a ramp.

The result of this honest model is often a net yield well below the headline number that drove the original conversation. That is the data. Investors who proceed with the real number make better decisions than those who anchor on the marketing number.

The Strategic Question: Yield vs. Appreciation

Most Miami real-estate wealth has been created through appreciation, not yield. The neighborhoods that have appreciated the most over the last fifteen years are not, in general, the short-term-rental neighborhoods. They are the lifestyle and primary-residence neighborhoods (Coconut Grove single-family, Coral Gables, Pinecrest, Key Biscayne, SoFi for condos, Bal Harbour, Mid-Beach for the newest product).

A serious investor question is whether the additional yield from a short-term-rental-friendly building is worth the trade-off in appreciation potential. In many cases, the appreciation in a long-term-rental-only Brickell or Edgewater building has outpaced the yield differential from a short-term-rental Sunny Isles building over a five-to-ten-year hold.

I am not arguing against short-term rentals as a category. I am arguing for the right tool for the actual goal. Cash-flow-first investors should buy in the short-term-rental pool. Wealth-building-first investors should usually buy elsewhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I rent any Miami condo on Airbnb? No. Most Miami condo buildings prohibit true daily or weekly rentals. Always verify the bylaws and the municipal code.

What's the difference between a condo-hotel and a daily-rental condo? A condo-hotel has a central hotel operator running the rental program. A daily-rental condo lets you (or a manager you hire) operate independently within the building's rules.

Are condo-hotels a good investment? They produce stable, operator-managed cash flow but generally deliver lower yields than owner-operated short-term rentals and more modest appreciation than residential luxury condos. The right choice depends on whether the investor's priority is convenience or return.

Which Miami municipality is most short-term-rental-friendly? Sunny Isles has historically been more permissive than the City of Miami Beach. Verify always.

Talk to Chanel

If you are evaluating a short-term-rental condo purchase or a condo-hotel investment in Miami, the right starting point is a conversation about your yield target, your tolerance for operating involvement, and your time horizon. I work with investor clients across all three categories of Miami condo inventory.

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Chanel Hunter Milian is a Miami luxury real estate advisor with Douglas Elliman Real Estate. This article is general informational content. All rental income projections should be modeled with current bylaws, current municipal code, and actual revenue history for the specific building before any offer.