Star (Isle) power: homes #1 at $40M

Miami’s Star Island is now the nation’s most expensive neighborhood while the number of New York City areas with homes costing at least $1 million is on the decline, according to a new survey.

The average price of a single-family home on Star Island, the man-made enclave off the coast of Miami Beach that is home to celebrities including Shaquille O’Neal, Gloria Estefan, and Rosie O’Donnell, was valued at an eye-popping $40.2 million as of December, said Zillow.

That’s a 71% increase from the average $23.5 million island home price just three years ago, according to the study, which was earlier cited by Bloomberg News.

Ken Griffin, the hedge fund billionaire who runs Citadel, recently bought five island properties for a combined $194 million — pushing Star Island to the top of Zillow’s rankings for priciest neighborhood.

Star Island is now four times as expensive as Beverly Hills Gateway in Beverly Hills, Calif., and more than twice as expensive as the nation’s second-priciest neighborhood — the Port Royal section of Naples, Fla., according to Zillow.

Overall, the Miami metropolitan area has seen a whopping 160% increase in the number of million-dollar ZIP codes — from just 10 in December 2019 to 26 as of December 2022, according to Realtor.com.

New York City, meanwhile, has seen a decline in its share of neighborhoods where the median listed home price is at least $1 million.

Marble Hill, Manhattan’s northern-most neighborhood, has seen typical home prices decline from $1.81 million in 2019 to $1.24 million — a 32% drop, according to Zillow.

A home in Washington Heights which cost $1.39 million three years ago saw its value drop by 20% to $1.12 million as of this past December, the survey found.

Home-hunters looking for a property on Manhattan’s Upper East Side would have had to pay $8.31 million three years ago. As of December, that figure dropped by 9% to $7.58 million.