A slew of record sale prices signaled the strength of South Florida’s ultra-luxury market this season.
Billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s purchase last month of an under-construction Indian Creek Island estate for $170 million set a price record for Miami-Dade County, for example.
But record sales across neighborhoods and price segments painted a picture of broader price growth and sustained momentum.
Indications that this would be a season of records started early. In November, Nadim Ashi’s Fort Partners sold an oceanfront penthouse at its Seaway at the Surf Club in Surfside for $86 million, the most expensive condo sale ever recorded in Miami-Dade County. It nearly doubled the previous record of $44 million for a penthouse at Fort’s adjacent Four Seasons Residences at the Surf Club.
The following month, Andrew Zaro, a member of the family behind Zaro’s Bakery, dropped $35 million on a Fisher Island condo, topping the previous $24.2 million price record. The 9,800-square-foot unit, which has seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and two-half-bathrooms, traded for nearly $3,600 per square foot. The condo appreciated 21 percent in five years — it sold for $20 million in 2021.
Also in December, William Wrigley Jr., an heir to the Wrigley chewing gum fortune, sold a 2.5-acre waterfront compound in North Palm Beach’s Lost Tree Village for $97.5 million. The gated Lost Tree Village is one of Palm Beach County’s most exclusive golf communities, and it requires all homebuyers to be approved by the club’s board prior to deals closing. The sale beat the previous records for Lost Tree Village and North Palm Beach, which were $55 million and $80 million, respectively.
Agents say waterfront properties are in great demand, pushing their prices to new heights. Earlier this month, billionaire WeatherTech founder David MacNeil sold a 3.6-acre oceanfront assemblage in Manalapan for $105 million. The deal was the most expensive land sale ever in the coastal enclave just south of Palm Beach.
In nearby Lantana, Rebecca Arcaini, the wife of Italian-German businessman Tonio Arcaini, dropped a record $17.5 million on a waterfront spec mansion built by developer Joe Farrell, according to property records. The deal followed the Arcaini’s sale of their waterfront Manalapan estate to a mystery buyer for $35.1 million. The 7,800-square-foot Lantana home has 120 feet of waterfront and topped the previous $14.8 million price record set last year.
In March, Lauren Sturges, the widow of businessman Charles M. Fernandez, sold her waterfront home in Coral Gables’ Tahiti Beach neighborhood for $32 million, topping the 2021 $28.9 million record. The 10,400-square-foot mansion appreciated 248 percent in nearly two decades she had owned it.
The top of the market is leading price growth, but records are appearing at the lower end of the market as well.
In Miami’s Bay Point neighborhood, a trust managed by Holland & Knight attorney Eli Rodrigues bought the house at 549 Northeast 59th Street for $6.2 million in March, according to property records. The deal for the renovated 4,700-square-foot home set a record non-waterfront sales in the neighborhood.
