Carlos Garcia is a broker and vice president at The Keyes Company working in Miami.

Every week, we ask a Miami real estate professional for their thoughts on the top three stories from the week before. This week, we spoke with Carlos Garcia, broker and vice president at The Keyes Company.

Miami Agent (MA): A recent report found that the price of mortgage payments in Florida has been falling recently. Have you seen a similar trend in Miami specifically, and, if so, has it – positively or negatively – affected the number of clients coming to you?

Carlos Garcia (CG): Keeping interest rates low has definitely had an impact – not to mention loan modifications that are helping people stay in their current property. However, despite the something like 280,000 new jobs the government reported on and the economy getting better, local interest rates actually have gone up a bit since last year. In 2013 the rates were around 3.8 percent and now it’s closer to 4.4 percent. It’s still pretty low, though.

There are definitely buyers out there, but we have a lot of cash buyers here, which is a problem. New homebuyers are finding it a little difficult to compete, and the all-cash offers are driving up prices. We have so much investment from international and non-local domestic buyers that local new homebuyers are being driven into neighboring counties.

MA: The luxury market in Miami is booming; yet, the bottom 99 percent of the market is still struggling. Have you noticed a swell of high priced purchases, and how do you think, if at all, an influx of luxury buyers has affected the lower priced residential market?

CG: he luxury market is a totally different market here. Again, a lot of foreign investment and a lot investment from affluent buyers out of the northeast, Texas and California. There are also a lot of celebrities buying here now that are pushing sales up into historic levels. Developers and sellers know they can get higher prices – many in all-cash – so, ultimately, it drives overall home prices up.

MA: One our stories recently discussed the absence of first-time homebuyers in the marketplace. Have you seen similar declines to your own client base, and, if so, what do you think the reason?

CG: We have a lot of first time homebuyers here, but inventory is too low. Even when they do find a property they like in their price range, first-time buyers are usually competing with all-cash offers that they can’t match – which is also driving up prices.

If you put a property on the market here, it’s gone in a week. But usually it’s being picked up by a cash offer, even though there are multiple other offers.

I make sure to tell my clients what they’re up against, but unfortunately there is not much option but to wait since our rents now are too high. So our mortgage interest rates are still considered low, but our rental rates are on the rise. Miami is such a totally different market than anywhere else.

The rising rental market, though, is good for the investors who bought at the right price. We have something like 150 new buildings going up right now. The Miami skyline is going to change drastically in the next year.

Despite the confusion, people are always coming into Miami and there are always new clients. For every one person to leave, three come.