Buyers Are Flocking to a Once-Overlooked Florida Enclave for a Simple Reason

If you've got millions to drop on a Miami house, you want to be on the beach, right? Not necessarily, say experts. The elite are beginning to shun beach towns for a neighborhood that offers an increasingly in-demand perk—walkability.

"Walkability is the biggest selling tool right now," Lourdes Alatriste, of Douglas Elliman, tells Realtor.com®. "In Coconut Grove, there are houses I couldn't sell a few years ago for $10 million, that now are selling for $30 million. It's because of the walkability, especially to Cocowalk."

Cocowalk, revamped in 2021, is an old-style village square in the marina-dominated neighborhood, bursting with independent boutiques, artisan vendors, family-owned restaurants, and lush gardens.

You can take a Pilates class on the Cocowalk rooftop overlooking the harbor, or relax with a glass of wine while catching the latest flick at the luxury cinema house.

"It used to not be on the map," Alatriste says of the artsy, up-and-coming neighborhood, just a half-hour drive south from downtown Miami Beach.

"Before, you had to introduce people to it. Now, people want to be able to have an ice cream at night with their kids and walk back to their house; or to walk their kids to school in the morning."

The Miami-based agent says her elite clients are increasingly eschewing downtown Miami's glistening shoreline for the beach-less but walkable neighborhood of Coconut Grove, where they can leave behind the Porsche or Mercedes and stroll to whatever their heart desires.

"Miami Beach is beautiful, and it has the the nightlife," she says. "But it doesn't have the total, complete everyday life like this neighborhood does, especially if you have a family. What sells at this level is lifestyle, and having everything you want at your fingertips.

"It's New York but with better weather."

The perk homebuyers most want now: walkability

Homebuyers—especially first-timers between the ages of 35 and 49—are more social and community-oriented than the previous generation, whose dream home was a fenced-in McMansion on a large parcel of land, removed from immediate neighbors, and affording plenty of privacy.

"People want a 'surban' environment now," says Ken Perlman, a managing principal with housing research firm, John Burns Research and Consulting.

"Surban"—a term the company trademarked—melds the sociability and convenience of urban areas with the quiet, low-crime, and superior schools of suburbia.

These environs are "less in-your-face" than big cities, says the analyst, but also eschew isolating suburban sprawl.

Developers are catching on. Newer masterplanned communities include The Wheeler District in Oklahoma City; Merion at Midtown Park in Dallas; and Playa Vista in Los Angeles, all of which favor walking and biking over car-dependency.

Perlman says part of what is pushing the desire for walkability is the renewed interest in wellness and the outdoors, which intensified after the COVID-19 pandemic. And there is the increasing attention to environmental causes and sustainability. Avoiding an emissions-gushing car fits into that vision, too.

Then there is what he calls "experiential living"—the ability to walk down the street, greet your neighbors, and easily meet up with friends in a "third space" such as a park, library, or coffee shop. In some ways, it is a throwback to the pre-Henry Ford era, when trollies ruled, and neighbors convened in communal spaces like churches, tavernas, or social clubs.

Will buyers pay a premium for this type of lifestyle?

"Absolutely," Perlman says.

In September 2025, the median listing price in Coconut Grove was $2.4 million, which, while down 4.7% year over year, was more than double the September 2019 median price of $1.0 million, according to Realtor.com data.

This soaring appreciation is even more pronounced at the elite level.

The luxury price threshold, defined as the 90th percentile home price, was $8.6 million in September 2025—up 14.2% year over year and and up an astonishing 256.4% compared to pre-pandemic September 2019.

"Many buyers are seeking walkable neighborhoods with convenient access to shops, restaurants, transit, and other everyday needs, features that tend to boost demand and push prices higher in these desirable areas," explains Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com.

The ultrarich want walkability, too

But it's not just first-time buyers who want to ditch the cars. It's those who can afford multi-acre compounds and limousines, too.

Whereas multimillionaires may have once favored extreme privacy—think a gated estate accessed by a private road or even drawbridge—the elite are increasingly opting for amenity-rich, luxury condo buildings, where everything is in easy reach and maintenance is low or nonexistent.

But for those who prefer—and can afford—multimillion-dollar estates but want convenience and walkability, they can do that in Coconut Grove. Agents call the neighborhood more relaxed and bohemian than high-end areas like Miami Beach and financial-hub Brickell.

Judy Zeder, of Coldwell Banker Realty, who currently lists a $24.5 million stunner in Coconut Grove, says that much of the clamor for walkability can be attributed to city-dwellers relocating from places like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and London. They are accustomed to leaving the car at home—if they own one at all—and want that lifestyle in South Florida, too.

She says elite buyers are favoring not only denser, more walkable neighborhoods like Coconut Grove, but also Sunrise Harbor, South Miami, and, increasingly, Coral Gables.

"People want to go outside, grab a coffee or a bite to eat, meet up with friends, and not get in the car," she says. "That's what they really like now."