Topping $5M: Non-waterfront Miami Beach home sales reach new level

Prior to the pandemic, a non-waterfront Miami Beach home selling for $5 million or more was essentially unheard of. Now, sale prices for several houses have reached that mark and more, leaving brokers hungry for more inventory while the housing boom lasts.

As prices climb, realtors offer one word of advice: “Sell.”

The latest sale, a non-waterfront home at 3175 Prairie Avenue, punched well past the $5 million price barrier, selling for nearly $6.6 million, according to a release. Jose, Marta, and Alexander Prieto sold the 4,005-square-foot house on a 14,000-square foot lot, records show. It has four bedrooms, five full bathrooms and one-half bathroom. Fazeel Khan is the buyer, according to a source.

David Pullman of One Sotheby’s International Realty represented the buyer, and Vanesa Carpignano with Douglas Elliman represented the seller.

In September, former Miami Dolphins linebacker Orlandus Andre Branch III sold his non-waterfront Miami Beach home at 4535 Nautilus Court for $6.3 million to Bryant M. Yunker Jr., a retired Wall Street broker and his wife Nancy Yunker.

Julian Cohen, an agent with the Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker, represented Branch, and said he received multiple offers for the home. He had also represented Branch when he bought the newly built house in 2019 for $3.5 million. He prompted Branch to sell now because of the booming market.

“It was a massive, record-setting sale for the neighborhood,” he said.

In fact, when his friends call him to ask about selling their properties, Cohen encourages them to make the move while the market is hot.

“‘Take the deal. These are big numbers. Go for it,’” he tells them.

Among other non-waterfront sales topping $5 million, this month, David Gebbia, the ex-husband of a former Real Housewife of Beverly Hills, bought a Palm Island house under construction for $5.8 million. It set a record price for a non-waterfront house on the Miami Beach island.

In September, Allon Bloch, CEO and co-founder of medical application maker K Health, and his wife, Allison Bloch, paid $5 million for the 4,583-square foot home at 2035 North Meridian Avenue in Miami Beach. An entity managed by Sabal Development founder Pascal Nicolai sold the five-bedroom, five-bathroom and one-half-bathroom spec house.

Sabal Development also sold a spec house at 2211 Meridian Avenue to Zachi and Ekaterina Wainstein from Russia in October for $5.5 million.

Perhaps the earliest sign of the market trend came in April when a managing director at J.P. Morgan, David Reiser and his wife Andrea, bought the non-waterfront house at 5061 North Bay Road from developer Rafi Gibly and his wife, Hadas, for $6.5 million. The nearly 6,000-square-foot home has eight bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and one half-bathroom, according to Realtor.com and Zillow.

“The market is continuing to move,” Cohen said. “Where will it stop? We don’t know.”