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Almost nowhere in the world have residential listing prices grown more rapidly than in Palm Beach and Miami, according to global real estate consultants at Knight Frank.
Each year, the company delves into the global state of “wealth creation,” including investment opportunities across commercial and residential real estate, compiling data into its wealth report. According to data collected between 2019 and 2024, Palm Beach saw the second-highest average home value increase in the world, while Miami saw the fourth-highest.
“Luxury U.S. housing markets have generally seen considerable outperformance over recent years,” according to the study. “Prime hotspots in Florida have experienced price growth at more than double the national average.”
Top Ten Markets for Five-Year Growth
1. Dubai 147 percent
2. Palm Beach 117 percent
3. Manila 87 percent
4. Miami 84 percent
5. Aspen 73 percent
6. Orange County, California 67 percent
7. Riyadh 65 percent
8. Seoul 60 percent
9. St. Tropez 58 percent
10. Algarve 58 percent
“Over the past five years, geopolitical and economic turmoil have reshaped global property markets,” the study states. “Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation and rising interest rates, markets such as Miami and Dubai have thrived, driven by shifting work, tax and lifestyle patterns.”
According to Knight Frank real estate experts, a $1 million luxury residential property investment in January 2020 would have grown to $1.84 million in Miami by the end of 2024.
The company traced Miami’s recent rise in investment value back to the beginning of the pandemic in January 2020, followed by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to drop interest rates in March 2020. The city experienced a steady rise until approximately October 2022, driven by rising energy prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Investment value dipped from that point until it rose again beginning in April 2023 and continuing into 2025.
The wealth report delves in-depth into many lavish pursuits, including the world’s top wine cities. Miami ranked No. 6, noting that among 137 fine restaurants, 64 percent of bottles cost over $200, with an average price of $556 — chump change.
2025 Global Wine Cities
1. New York City
2. London
3. Singapore
4. Hong Kong
5. Paris
6. Miami
7. Shanghai
8. Tokyo
9. Dubai
10. San Francisco
Perhaps an even better indicator of where the wealthy reside: South Florida came in second on the wealth report’s top eight Yacht Spots.
2025 Yacht Spots
1. The Mediterranean
2. South Florida
3. The Red Sea
4. Indonesia
5. New Zealand
6. Alaska and Western Canada
7. The Northwest Passage and Arctic
8. Bermuda and Bahamas
However, despite the success of global wealth investments over the past five years, wealth experts paint a bleak picture for the future, citing looming threats of conflict, financial turmoil, and the Presidency of Donald Trump.
“What might be deemed to be a plausible risk has expanded massively over the past five years because of the pandemic, because of the war in Ukraine, because of Trump, and because of the shifts in politics,” Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics, said in the study. “If we’d said 10 years ago, there’ll be a global trade war, war in Europe, escalating U.S./China tensions and seemingly genuine threats to Taiwan, all these things would have seemed implausible. That is no longer the case.”
