Residential prices across South Florida have risen sharply, but nothing like the spikes at the high end of the spectrum
Most real estate pundits mark the COVID pandemic as the trigger for the tsunami of wealth that has poured into South Florida. Led by billionaires like Ken Griffen, who famously relocated his $63 billion Chicago-based hedge fund to Miami in 2022, the region stretching from Miami to Palm Beach has seen a veritable flood of CEOs looking to relocate from the Northeast and Midwest. Altogether, more than $2.5 trillion in managed assets have relocated to the region, along with their executives – not to mention myriad leaders of tech and VC firms.
The result has been a dramatic rise in prices across the board, but none as dramatic as at the high end, where houses and condos now routinely sell for $10 to $15 million, with outliers spiking to $45 million and more. According to Analytics Miami, the median price for single-family homes in Miami-Dade County increased 78 percent from December 2019 to December 2024. Over the same time, sales of homes priced over $10 million increased by 248.4 percent.
“We were probably one of the greatest cities in the country that was the most undervalued,” says Judy Zeder, one of the area’s top realtors. “I think COVID brought Miami to a new level of what a lot of the property [prices] should be.” Zeder points to the eternal law of supply and demand, with South Florida’s limited supply of land adding huge pressure to prices.
“We’re not like other places in the United States, where you have hundreds or thousands of acres of land available. In Miami, an acre and a half is an estate property,” she says. One client told her that an estate to him meant 75 acres. “I told him that if you had 75 acres, you would be on the other side of the state… I mean, we have just 18 miles between the bay and the Everglades.”
In other parts of South Florida, such as Palm Beach County – where there is more land – it’s all about waterfront property, which is also limited in supply. The high-end buying spree is also being driven by stock market concerns, says Zeder, a founding member of the Jill Zeder Group, Coldwell Banker’s luxury property specialists. (Last year, ranked by Coldwell as its No. 1 top-performing team nationally, they closed sales totaling $1.85 billion.) “We have a percentage of our clients that are very nervous about the movement in the stock market and are looking at [real estate] as a great opportunity, because they feel like it’s something that’s going to hold its value.”
“Since COVID, everything’s changed,” says Gaetano Caltagirone, a partner in the Miami-based spec-home builder Calta Group. “Homes that we used to sell at like two and a half million pre-Covid? Today they’re selling at six or seven million.” Calta currently has three homes under construction priced between $15 million and $18 million, located in the coveted Miami suburbs of Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, and Pinecrest.
“These areas are surrounded by all the greatest schools in Miami, as well as the University of Miami,” says Caltagirone. “So, anybody who relocates from Chicago or New York or California – wherever they’re coming from – they want to get their kids into one of these schools, and then once they do that, they’re looking for homes. And even if the prices today sound outrageous, I think compared to what they would get in the cities like New York there’s still value, especially considering the quality of life we can offer here.”
Whatever is driving the market, the list of purchases this year alone is stunning. Here are just a few:
- Daniel Krizek, a top biotech investment fund manager at Citadel, paid $19.5 million for the top-floor penthouse at the new Five Park condo in Miami Beach. At 5,369 square feet, the unit sold $3,632 per square foot.
- Kenneth M. Grunley, the CEO of Rockville, Maryland-based Grunley Construction Co., paid $15.25 million for a mansion in the Admirals Cove country club in Jupiter. At 6,448 square feet, the home sold for $2,365 per square foot.
• Richard Skelhorn, an entrepreneur with online gaming companies MetaWin, Mandaly, and Atemi Group, bought a waterfront mansion on Miami Beach’s Palm Island for $45 million. The 14,930-square-foot home sold for $3,014 per square foot.
Beyond the high valuations, the purchases represent huge gains for sellers. The Skelhorn buy was among the most dramatic, having sold for $37.96 million in May 2024. Other examples of gains:
- A company led by entrepreneur Andres Isaias paid $17 million for a Miami Beach home on Biscayne Bay that last sold for $4.7 million in 2000.
- Ara Cohen, co-founder of hedge fund Knighthead Capital Management, sold his Palm Beach mansion for $15.59 million to a buyer from Philadelphia. The home last sold for $9.22 million in 2020.
- Kayak CEO Steve Hafner purchased the penthouse in the Ocean House South Beach condominium for $24 million from Sun Capital Partners co-CEO Marc Leder. Leder paid $15 million for it in 2013.
- A trust for Kareem Zaki, partner at NYC venture capital firm Thrive Capital, and wife Raquel Zaki, owner of Mirador LLC, paid $26.8 million for a waterfront mansion in Miami Beach. The home last sold for $3.3 million in 2003.
- Patrick McMahon, founder and chief investment officer at hedge fund MKP Capital Management, sold his condo at the Four Seasons Residences in Surfside for $27.5 million. He bought the condo for $14.75 million in 2017.
- Ryan D. McKillen, a co-founder of Uber, paid $22.5 million for a penthouse at One Park Grove in Miami’s Coconut Grove. The condo last sold for $10.22 million in 2020.
