Zuckerberg Joins Miami Boom, Will Rest of Resi Market Follow

Mark Zuckerberg is the latest tech billionaire to consider Miami as his home base, but it remains to be seen whether his likely move, and a broader wave of relocations, will meaningfully boost South Florida’s residential market.

Zuckerberg and his wife, pediatrician and philanthropist Priscilla Chan, are reportedly in talks to buy the waterfront compound at 7 Indian Creek Island Road, which is on the market for $200 million. The Zuckerbergs’ pending purchase and the corporate relocation of Palantir, the controversial AI software firm that’s leaving Denver for Miami, add to momentum that’s been growing at the very top end of the market.

Larry Page, a co-founder of Google, paid about $188 million for three homes in Miami, including two large waterfront properties. Fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin is also reportedly buying a waterfront home on Allison Island in Miami Beach, which was listed for $50 million but has been taken off the market.

They’re joining other tech CEOs who have been here for years, after buying homes in Miami during the pandemic, including Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel. But unlike the pandemic or even billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin’s investment in the region and his relocation of Citadel and Citadel Securities, this latest surge in sales has been largely limited to the 1 percent of homes from Miami to Palm Beach, agents say.

Like never before

Danny Hertzberg of the Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker said the jump in demand is still “hyper concentrated” for homes in gated communities and on the open water, of which little inventory exists.

“Every week it’s building and building, the number of people who continue to come in,” said Hertzberg, who has seen it firsthand as a listing agent for some of these recent deals, which he declined to comment on. “We’re seeing and sending multiple offers. It’s never been like this before.”

Douglas Elliman’s Senada Adžem, who’s active in Palm Beach County, said she’s seen more transactions over $35 million, and many deals in the $5 million to $15 million range. Big families moving out of California, Nevada and Texas have helped fuel her business from Stone Creek Ranch to Boca Raton.

But the $20 million to $30 million homes were “really difficult to move,” she said, calling it “one of the quietest market segments in the past six years.”

Still, a domino effect from the higher price points down has yet to be seen, and Palantir’s relocation, announced on X last week with zero details, has yet to have a trickle-down effect. It’s too soon for that, but agents are banking on it.

Across the board, inventory is strong, and sellers are reducing their asking prices. Chad Carroll, with Compass, said the overall market has normalized.

Condo sales have been lagging behind single-family home sales, in part because many older buildings are feeling the effects of the state’s condo safety laws, passed after the Surfside condo collapse.

Residential sales across Miami-Dade County increased by about 1 percent year-over-year in January to nearly 1,900 closings, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. That’s thanks to a nearly 3 percent rise in single-family home sales to about 660 closings. Condo sales fell by 1 sale, or 0.1 percent. It’s a similar story in Broward, where single-family home and condo sales fell.

Despite the trophy sales and never-before-seen pricing for ultra-luxury properties, price growth overall has slowed and price reductions have become more common, agents say. The median price of a condo in Miami-Dade in January rose just 1 percent to $420,000, while the median price of a single-family home grew about 4 percent to $700,000. IMedian prices also fell in Broward.

Palm Beach County, on the other hand, had a stronger month: Single-family home sales rose 10 percent to more than 900 closings, and condo sales were up nearly 9 percent to about 700 closings.

One Sotheby’s International Realty agent Jill Penman, who focuses on Coconut Grove, said the market over $10 million is strong but many listings in the neighborhood are overpriced. The buyers, many all-cash, are “super savvy,” she said.

“They’re not going to overpay just because the seller overpaid and got into a bidding war years ago,” Penman said.

Correcting the record

Buyers, including the C-suite executives at the companies that are migrating to Florida, are attracted to the lack of state income tax, underregulation of business and strong homestead protection laws. A proposed wealth tax in California is helping fuel some of the bigger moves.

Still, the tech boom has been overrepresented. Many buyers of high-end homes work in finance.

“A lot of the people moving from California have exposure to tech industries, and the tech stories are very exciting, but I don’t know if all the people looking are going to ultimately buy,” said Hertzberg. “Others, I get the impression they’re deciding if it’s the right thing for them.”

He expects more closings in April and May.

Carroll said he’s working with buyers relocating their companies from the West Coast.

“It’s still early stages,” he said. His buyers too are also not just in tech. “A lot of them own their own businesses and can plant them anywhere.”

Douglas Elliman’s Sari Shapiro, who is working on more sales between $5 million and $12 million, including at new projects like Villa Miami, which is under construction in Edgewater, is also dealing with more new-to-market buyers.

“In the last couple of months, I’ve helped relocate four CEOs,” she said. Some buyers had smaller second homes in Miami and “now they’re finally making a more formal move, bringing their kids down and moving their wives.”