Land of sun and money: South Florida resi sales of $10M-plus rise exponentially this year

South Florida’s luxury residential market is surging, with sales of homes priced at $10 million or more rising exponentially, an analysis by The Real Deal shows.

Data from the Multiple Listing Service, provided to TRD by The Keyes Company, reveals that residential sales in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties during the past 12 months, priced at that level, far surpassed sales of the previous two years combined. The data includes both single-family homes and condos.

From December 2020 to November 2021, residential purchases of $10 million or more skyrocketed to 394, representing a sales volume of $6.9 billion.

That is up 158 percent, or two-and-a-half times the 153 sales in that price range from December 2019 to November 2020, and also nearly triple the total sales dollar volume of nearly $2.4 billion that year.

From December 2018 to November 2019, prior to the pandemic, homes priced at $10 million or above in the tri-county region totaled 104, with a combined volume of $1.6 billion.

That means this year’s sales were up 290 percent, or nearly four times that of two years ago. Total sales dollar volume is also up over four times that of 2019.

The chart below shows the drastic increase in home sales and dollar volume.

Mike Pappas, CEO of The Keyes Company, believes the pandemic turbocharged an ongoing trend.

“I think it’s a combination of lifestyle and space,” he said. “Here you get sun, outdoors, and a lifestyle more conducive to Covid restrictions.”

Sales of waterfront houses, which are typically the highest-priced homes in the market, have particularly soared. Tech and finance moguls are among the buyers. Last month, Goody co-founder Ed Lando paid $15.1 million for a waterfront home on the Venetian Islands in Miami Beach.

And as inventory of waterfront single-family homes has dwindled, high-priced condos are in heightened demand. Developers are now launching new condo projects to meet buyers’ insatiable appetite.

Meanwhile, prices are rising across the region, reaching new records in many neighborhoods. In November, a Palm Beach condo sale set a record at $18 million — or $4,700 per square foot.

And homeowners are flipping houses in a matter of months for big profits. In November, a cannabis and crypto investor flipped his waterfront Bay Point mansion in Miami for $18 million — $1 million more than its purchase price six months earlier.

Pappas said Florida’s lack of a state income tax, the ever-increasing belief that employees are just as productive working remotely, and the allure of the Florida lifestyle will keep the “domino effect” going.

“The trend will continue,” Pappas said. “We’re becoming the Wall Street of the South.”