Who is Buying Florida Keys Real Estate in 2021?

As Florida Keys residents, we are well aware of how amazing it is to live here. Living in the Florida Keys is like living in paradise. For years, however, our tropical paradise has been an undiscovered treasure to many luxury real estate buyers throughout the country. Typically, we have seen much of the luxury real estate market in the Keys dominated by foreign investors or buyers from overseas and the occasional snow-bird. Today, however, the market is changing.

Thanks in large part to the pandemic, today’s real estate sales in the Keys are coming from a whole new crop of buyers. The pandemic has shaped us all in one way or another. City-dwellers from all over the country, from New York to Chicago, are realizing the importance of nature and are fleeing the city in record numbers looking for serene, beautiful nature spots to live. Many real estate sales in the Keys are coming from these former city-lovers. Where can you appreciate the wonder of the ocean better than from your own waterfront home in the Keys? You certainly don’t feel the relaxing sea breeze from your balcony in Manhattan!

It’s not just city slickers flocking to the Keys. With many transitioning from in-person jobs to working remotely, people from all over the country are now able to live anywhere. With that, real estate agents in the Keys are seeing growing numbers of working-age people purchasing properties throughout the Keys. Gone are the days when the market was saturated with retirees. Though there will always be a market for a retirement refuge, the median age of Florida Keys buyers is certainly decreasing.

A large portion of current real estate sales in the Keys are coming from other states like California and New Jersey, where markets are high and taxes are even higher. Buyers from these markets are realizing the benefits of the lower taxes in Florida and are looking to take advantage of the prices in the Keys that seem like a steal compared to their home markets.

One of the largest groups purchasing real estate in the Keys in 2021 is actually relative locals. Buyers from nearby South Florida - Miami, Broward, and Palm Beach - are making up a large portion of the market. Just a few short hours in the car can get South Florida locals to a second home in the Florida Keys where they can live like they are in the Caribbean without even getting on a plane. With many working from home today and with priorities changing for many Americans, large numbers from the Miami area are itching to get away on the weekends or for longer to enjoy nature. The Florida Keys is becoming to South Florida what the Hamptons are to New York!