America's Priciest Neighborhoods Are Changing as the Ultra-Rich Move to Florida

And yet, Ken Griffin’s move south from Chicago has launched the neighborhood into a new stratosphere, and turned it into a microcosm of the shift in demographic and housing trends across the US.

A typical home on the island is valued at $40 million, up from $23.5 million in December 2019 — making the area the priciest neighborhood in America, data from Zillow Group Inc. show. The gap has never been wider between its closest competition: Port Royal in Naples, Florida, and Beverly Hills, the star-studded California haven.

Some of that is directly the result of Griffin, founder of hedge fund powerhouse Citadel. He bought five properties on the island for a combined $194 million.

Griffin’s machinations are part of a broader shift among America’s ultra-rich and powerful in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Their moves, away from places like New York’s Upper East Side and San Francisco’s Nob Hill to warmer, less-dense regions of Florida and Texas have lifted real estate prices in some locales while leaving other neighborhoods behind. And as wealthy executives bring their businesses along with them, the merely affluent follow, too.

A Bloomberg analysis of home values in the country’s most-expensive areas show some of these changes in stark terms. While a broad real estate boom lifted prices nationwide — adding an estimated $12 trillion in new US housing wealth since the pandemic — the Miami region saw its number of million-dollar ZIP codes more than double from the end of 2019 through 2022. It’s a similar story in places such as Park City, Utah, or Flagstaff, Arizona, with house-price gains of more than 90% in some wealthy neighborhoods. 

While parts of New York and California, traditional wealth centers, still rank near the top of list of most expensive areas, values in some neighborhoods have actually declined since 2019, Zillow data show.

Even as rising interest rates cool the nation’s housing boom, the changes represent a broader reset for America’s priciest housing as state and local officials grapple with how to restore the allure of hollowed-out cities. Some of the ultra-rich — Griffin among them — cite concerns over rising crime. Others are lured elsewhere by lower taxes. Whatever the rationale, these patterns and the corresponding surge in housing costs are reshaping regions, changing business decisions and adding to affordability challenges for non-wealthy residents.

“The pandemic really was like a tectonic plate shift,” said Maria Elena Lagomasino, chief executive officer of WE Family Offices, which works with ultra-high-net-worth families. She operates out of Miami’s Brickell neighborhood, an area so finance-heavy it’s been dubbed Wall Street South. To her, the migration of affluent people to the area is only in “the early innings.”


Florida — a pandemic destination because of its sunny climate, relatively lax Covid rules and no state income tax — is home to 38 of the 50 million-dollar US neighborhoods with the largest price gains by percentage over the past three years, Zillow data show. Those areas have all seen home values more than double. 

Star Island has always been one of the nation's priciest neighborhoods, a gated community where all houses overlook the ocean, with spacious mansions drawing in celebrities and billionaires. But the largesse has spread to other neighborhoods catering to different needs.

The Venetian Islands — a chain of six man-made islands, connected by the Venetian Causeway, including Di Lido, Rivo Alto and San Marino islands — have turned into “the land of rich bachelors,” Goldentayer said. In a short walk (or scooter drive) the well-off can hit one of the 10 different nearby gyms (including a Barry's) then grab a bowl of acai (Pura Vida is a popular spot). For families looking for larger houses but without the budget of a Ken Griffin, there are places like Palm Island, with a median home value of just under $10 million.

The gains have been diverse, not only among ultra-elite areas like Star Island, but to parts of Florida that are traditionally not known as wealth havens. Before the pandemic there were zero ZIP codes in the Tampa area where the median home-listing price topped $1 million. Now there are four. 

The shifts have political implications as wealthy residents bring their dollars and donations to new areas. Griffin, for instance, was once one of Illinois’s major political donors before relocating Citadel from Chicago. He has financially backed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 Republican presidential nominee. The nation’s growing culture wars have also come into play; DeSantis said “people are voting with their feet” at a re-election campaign event last year and has since bashed states like New York and Illinois for being soft on crime. Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, ran political ads in Florida promoting his state as a haven from restrictive conservative policies. 

Source: Bloomberg.com