Miami’s Star Island is now the most expensive neighborhood in the country, according to a new survey, while the number of New York City areas where buying a home will set you back at least $1 million is on the decline.
The median price of a single-family home on Star Island, the man-made enclave off the coast of Miami Beach that is home to celebrities including Shaquille O’Neal, Gloria Estefan and Rosie O’Donnell, was an eye-popping . $40.2 million as of December according to Zillow.
That’s a 71% increase from the $23.5 million median price for a home on the island three years ago, according to the study. Quoted by Bloomberg News,
Ken Griffin, the hedge fund billionaire who runs the Citadel, Recently bought five properties on the island For a combined $194 million — pushing Star Island to the top of Zillow’s ranking for priciest neighborhoods.

According to Zillow, Star Island is now four times as expensive as the Beverly Hills Gateway in Beverly Hills, California and twice as expensive as the Port Royal section of Naples, Fla. – the country’s second most expensive neighborhood.
Overall, the Miami metropolitan area has seen a massive 160% increase in the number of million-dollar ZIP codes — from just 10 in December 2019 to 26 by December of last year, according to Realtor.com.
Meanwhile, New York City has seen its share of neighborhoods decline where the median listed price of a home is at least $1 million.
Marble Hill, Manhattan’s northernmost neighborhood and the only part of the borough that is physically connected to the Bronx, saw home prices drop from $1.81 million to $1.24 million in 2019 — a 32% drop, according to Zillow.
A home in Washington Heights that cost $1.39 million three years ago dropped 20% in value to $1.12 million as of last December, a survey by Zillow found.
Home-hunters looking for property on Manhattan’s Upper East Side would have paid $8.31 million three years ago. By December, that figure had fallen by 9% to $7.58 million.


Even value neighborhoods in San Francisco, including Polk Gulch, Mission Dolores, Lower Haight and South of Market, saw double-digit percentage declines in home values during the past three years, according to Zillow.
Both New York and San Francisco have been plagued by declining quality of life in recent years, which local residents blame on rising crime rates, rampant homelessness, high taxation, and rising costs of living.
Florida, Texas, and other Sun Belt states have been the beneficiaries of a significant gain in inflow migration in recent years, thanks to an overall lower cost of living, warmer weather, more lax COVID restrictions, and a friendlier business environment.

Federal government statistics show that Florida has recently overtaken the state of New York in the number of non-farm jobs for the first time in 40 years.
Last week, Stephen Ross, the billionaire real estate developer behind the Hudson Yards project, predicted that New Yorkers would continue to move to Florida Because of the relative “ease of living” in the Sunshine State.
In 2022, more new yorkers moved to florida than any other year in history, Official figures show.