The bad news is that you still need that spare $187.5 million. Tarpon Island, a 2.3-acre private island created in the Intercoastal Waterway around Florida's Palm Beach in 1930, came back onto the real estate market for the first time in 23 years in 2021.
With both the country's and Florida's real estate markets in the middle of a boom, luxury real estate developer Todd Michael Glaser purchased it for $85 million in July and then relisted it again for $210 million just a few months later in November. Even though Glaser's team completed a full renovation that doubled the size of the main mansion from 12,000 to over 23,000 square feet, the aggressively bold asking price reflected both Glaser's confidence and what was then skyrocketing home price growth in Southern Florida.
Related: Luxury Home Market Seen Escaping Decline Next Year
But Glaser's confidence clearly did not match demand and interest among deep-pocketed buyers as he ended up taking Tarpon Island off the market in June 2023 and, now, putting it back on again with a $30 million price cut. At one point between 2021 and now, it had also briefly been on the market for $218 million.
Shutterstock
Several price cuts, a major renovation and over 1,300 feet of prime waterfront space
Currently set at $187.5 million, 10 Tarpon Isle includes 2.27 acres of land and over 1,300 feet of prime waterfront space on all four sides surrounding the main mansion. The main property that Glaser's team renovated includes 11 bedrooms, 15-and-a-half bathrooms, two private docks, a tennis court, an outdoor loggia with a kitchen, an outdoor fire pit and a pool bar as well as several pools and hot tubs throughout the property.
More Travel:
- A new travel term is taking over the internet (and reaching airlines and hotels)
- The 10 best airline stocks to buy now
- Airlines see a new kind of traveler at the front of the plane
Even with the price cut, Tarpon Island is currently the most expensive residential property for sale in the U.S. Corcoran Group's Suzanne Frisbie and Douglas Elliman (DOUG) -)'s Chris Leavitt are the real estate agents representing the listing and told Mansion Global that the new price reflects the market and the value of the property post-renovation.
"You're getting almost entirely new but [the construction] really mimics and respects the original," Leavitt told the real estate news outlet. “We're delivering everything to the buyer on a silver platter."
So what's going on with the luxury real estate market in Florida? It's complicated
With the Sunshine State still in the midst of significant population growth, Florida's real estate market is still going strong even as other parts of the country have started to correct themselves from many years of unfettered growth.
That said, some of the most extreme price spikes appear to have passed. Between October 2022 and 2023, the average price of a single-family home in Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties rose by 5.4%.
This is down from the double-digit increases being recorded between 2019 and 2021 while demand for ultra-luxury homes is seeing slower growth due to the narrower pool of buyers who have the funds for such a purchase. There is, however, constant fluctuation as several purchases in the top percent can sway the entire area's averages — while Miami saw a recent decline in luxury real estate prices, renewed billionaire interest in Palm Beach sent the average price of a home there soaring to record $20 million.
