According to local realtors, homeowners in the luxury segment in South Florida lately prefer to build larger guest houses, sometimes even entire guest mansions. They occasionally purchase a neighbouring property or a second condominium in the same complex for that purpose.
This trend is particularly strong in the Miami metropolitan area. For instance, residents of Fort Lauderdale, particularly the Harbor Beach neighbourhood, are actively buying adjacent houses and mansions to accommodate their guests and increase their coastline and the capacity of their berths.
Premium homeowners have started selling their main and guest houses in a single package. For instance, Luis Garcia who made a fortune selling concrete, listed his waterfront mansion with a floor area of 762 square metres in Bay Point, Miami, together with a guest house on the other side of the street, without direct access to the ocean. Their combined price reached $72.5 million. Mr. Garcia purchased the guest house with a tennis court, a swimming pool, a billiards room, and a gym for $3.2 million in 2014. In the end of February 2023, he was able to sell the mansion for a record-breaking $38.5 million, while the guest house remained in the market with a price tag of $17.5 million.
According to John Cregan, Agent at Sotheby’s International Realty in Palm Beach, an increasing number of his clients are trying to buy a second condominium in the same residential complex on the island, so that visiting children and grandchildren could stay there. One of the reasons is the growing rates and low availability of hotel rooms, he believes. With remote and hybrid work, it has become easier to visit friends and relatives for long periods of time, and owning a second condominium means good savings.