South Florida Price-per-SqFt & Market Performance Index

Across 84 markets with ≥40 qualified 2024 sales, the median transaction price per square foot runs from $169 (Lauderdale Lakes) to $1,415 (Palm Beach) — a 8.4× spread. The cross-market median is $331; the standard deviation, $196, is roughly 0.6× the median itself. A single metro-wide "average" price conceals this.

Dispersion is not uniform. Surfside shows the widest internal spread (IQR $602–$2,078, coefficient of variation 92%), reflecting a mix of price tiers in one municipality; Florida City is the most uniform (CV 13%). Dispersion, not just level, distinguishes these markets.

The change in median transaction $/SqFt from 2023 to 2024 ranges from +33.1% (Bay Harbor Islands) to -15.3% (Palm Springs). This is a compositional movement in what sold, not a constant-quality appreciation rate — markets are moving in opposite directions within the same metro.

Joining deeds to the assessment roll, qualified sale prices run 1.34× the county just (assessed) value in Surfside versus 1.08× in Lauderdale Lakes — a sale-to-just-value view available only from a deed-plus-assessment join, and a proxy for where market pricing has pulled furthest ahead of the tax roll.

Among markets with 50+ closed MLS sales, Ocean Ridge clears 89% cash versus 6% in Florida City. Ultra-luxury coastal demand is structurally cash-funded; urban condo demand is mortgage-funded.

Continuum I South Tower in Miami Beach leads at $3,027/SqFt on 18 qualified 2024 deed sales. The ceiling is set by a small set of oceanfront towers, not by any single city average — and the top building routinely prices multiples above its own city's median.

The share of the residential stock that recorded a qualified arm's-length sale in 2024 runs from 22.3% in Westlake down to 2.0% in Hialeah Gardens. Turnover tracks how actively a market trades, and it does not move in lockstep with price level — some mid-priced markets convert a larger share of their stock each year than the priciest coastal enclaves.