To talk with Miami’s real estate agents is to get the sense that their market is El Dorado, and its riches are for the hustlers selling the city of gold.
While other key U.S. markets slowed and stumbled, Miami’s top brokers posted record numbers, thanks to a series of deals involving buyers such as billionaire Jeff Bezos, consumer goods magnate Anand Khubani and David and Victoria Beckham.
“We’re the hottest market in the country,” said Luxe Living Realty agent Dora Puig, who brokered the Beckhams’ record $72 million purchase of a waterfront spec mansion on Miami Beach’s North Bay Road in October.
Still, Miami’s top real estate agents describe this year as “challenging,” “interesting” and “an adjustment period.” But it was better than last year.
“We had to reduce prices and really do so much more marketing, so much more communication,” said Nancy Batchelor, a top agent with Compass. “A lot of sellers didn’t want to hear it.”
The dissonance between Puig and Batchelor’s sentiments illustrates the contradictory dynamics at play. Demand for luxury homes is high, but the right inventory is in low supply and few new homes are under construction. Prices and dollar volume continue to climb, despite the slowdown triggered by interest rate hikes that began in 2022.
The top 25 agent teams in Miami-Dade County closed $5.4 billion in on-market sales in the 12-month period ending in May, according to The Real Deal’s analysis. That’s up from $4.3 billion in on-market sales in TRD’s 2023 ranking.
The top brokers are a familiar cast of characters. The Jills Zeder Group, led by Jill Hertzberg, Jill Eber and Judy Zeder at Coldwell Banker, once again clinched first place with $923 million in sales. Dina Goldentayer of Douglas Elliman placed second with $735 million in sales, up from the $285 million she earned in the same spot last year. Chad Carroll and Riley Smith of Compass ranked third and fourth, respectively, with $321 million and $238 million in sales volume. Puig landed in fifth with $225 million.
Some agents made strides, as evidenced by Goldentayer’s ballooning on-market sales volume and Smith’s leapfrogging up the ranking. For others, on-market deals dipped, while some dropped off the ranking entirely.
Market snapshot
Overall, agents characterized 2024 as a year of transition for the market. The pandemic put the pedal to the floor on Miami real estate. Now, they’re adjusting.
“This year, a lot of the sellers became more realistic with their pricing,” Hertzberg said. But it took a lot of tough conversations with clients to bring them down from the clouds.
“It’s really [about] educating the people to make them understand that is not going to work,” Eber said of aspirational pricing. “The property is just going to sit there.”
Price growth is still trending upward, but not at the rapid rates seen in 2021 and 2022. Brokers are responding to the shift and adjusting pricing strategy to respond to buyers’ tempered offers.
“Right now I’m actually allowing a bit more room for negotiation than I have in, say, ’22 or ’23,” said Goldentayer, who noted she’s conscientious of buyers’ desire to feel they’ve gotten a good deal.
The softer approach to pricing fades away at the ultra-luxury end of Miami’s market, which continues to see record numbers.
Agents had different measures of where that price point started, but $30 million and up is a reliable threshold for categorizing the uppermost tier. Homes priced between $5 million and $30 million are considered “standard luxury,” and agents said that category slowed down dramatically in comparison to ultra-luxury this year.
“Anything above $20 million, I move. Anything above $30 million, I move even faster,” Goldentayer said.
Buyers in the $10 million to $15 million range tend to be more “affected by more macro conditions,” she said.
Buyers want turnkey homes, either newly built or recently renovated — a category with tight inventory thanks to the high costs of land and construction. Generally, agents expect the limited supply of quality inventory to remain low.
“In the geographic area that I do from Coral Gables up to Golden Beach, the scarcity in single-family homes is a big issue,” said Corcoran Group agent Julian Johnston, who ranked sixth with $216 million on-market sales. “I don’t see a lot of supply coming because interest rates are still high.”
Buyers want prime locations as well.
“Obviously, Miami Beach is very strong. The islands, like Star Island and Indian Creek, are very strong,” said Corcoran agent Eloy Carmenate, whose Carmenate & Duchon Team placed 12th with $164 million in on-market sales. “The frontrunner has been Coral Gables because of the schools.”
Among condo towers, the Continuum in South Beach and Four Seasons Residences at the Surf Club in Surfside remain coveted. A penthouse at the latter property sold for a record $44 million. In the condo market, size matters.
“Two of my biggest sales this year have been penthouse product,” Goldentayer said. “I expect to see condos that are combo units or penthouses really continue to have their moment in the sun in 2025.”
Frequently, agents point to the Beckhams’ North Bay Road purchase as the definitive deal of the era. It’s emblematic of how the well-heeled are willing to pay top dollar for what meets their standards in a market strapped for quality inventory.
“Time is a bigger currency to these high net worth individuals than money,” said Puig. “Actual life time on earth has become more of a valuable currency than the actual money for them.”
Major headlines
Also captured in the ranking is the decline of Official’s Alexander Team.
Led by brothers Oren and Tal Alexander, the team broke off from Douglas Elliman in 2022 to launch Official Partners, a Side-backed brokerage. In March, the Alexanders’ business was roaring, with a newly launched office in Aspen and their sights set on expanding to Palm Beach. They closed $185 million in on-market sales by the end of May, down from the $249 million they reached in last year’s ranking, dropping from fourth to eighth place.
In June, explosive sexual assault allegations against the brothers emerged, with women bringing lawsuits against Tal Alexander, Oren Alexander and his twin Alon Alexander. Dozens of women have come forward alleging a pattern of predatory behavior and sexual violence stretching back to the brothers’ high school days — claims the Alexanders deny. In the aftermath, clients dropped them, their agents fled to other brokerages and the Aspen office shuttered. Side is now suing the brothers and Official to recoup an unpaid loan, and they have no Miami listings.
The dramatic undoing of the Alexander brothers’ business wasn’t the only big story in the Miami residential market this year. Less scandalous are the headwinds that will continue to shape the market and brokers’ bottom lines for years to come.
When the National Association of Realtors reached its landmark $418 million settlement in the Sitzer-Burnett case in March, it upended longstanding practices around broker commissions. In the months leading up to the Aug. 17 deadline for implementing commission changes, brokers and brokerages hurried to prepare for the new reality.
But since then, agents say little has changed.
“It’s a little bit more paperwork and a little bit more headache because you’ve got to call around,” said Johnston. “Buyer brokers are not going anywhere and they’re still getting paid.”
New requirements for buyer’s broker agreements ahead of showings are an obstacle in some cases.
“I have had several scheduled appointments that have canceled last minute because the buyer didn’t want to sign the agreement,” said One Sotheby’s International Realty agent Michael Martinez, who placed 11th in the ranking with $165 million in on-market deals.
Brokers say the need to discuss commissions with buyers at the onset disadvantages new, young and part-time agents who don’t already have a successful track record. It will also thin the herd of unskilled agents in Miami, a welcome change in the eyes of some agents.
“We get a lot of unqualified people selling real estate,” Puig said. “We are the largest real estate board in the country — to me that’s embarrassing, not something to be proud of.”
The market is also still warming up after the Federal Reserve’s first rate cut in August. Now, agents are waiting for the presidential election to pass, which has kept some buyers in a holding pattern.
Joel Lusky of the Brokerage South Florida Real Estate, whose team ranked 14th with $150 million in on-market sales, said his clients just want to know the outcome of the election.
“Regardless of who wins,” Lusky said, “the Miami market is going to see a great uptick this season.”
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