A $20 million Miami condominium can be extraordinarily valuable.
That does not necessarily make it liquid.
At the trophy level, the question is not simply whether a residence can sell. Almost every exceptional property has a buyer at the right price.
The more interesting question is:
How deep is the pool of buyers willing to purchase the next one?
A review of $5 million-plus activity across 12 of Miami-Dade’s better-known luxury and ultra-luxury condominium developments shows enormous differences in transaction activity, current inventory and reported time on market.
Some buildings consistently produce high-value closings.
Others may be extraordinarily prestigious yet trade infrequently.
And a few currently have substantially more $5M+ inventory for sale than recent transaction history might suggest.
That distinction matters to anyone paying a significant premium for a Miami trophy residence.
Liquidity Is Not the Same as Value
In conventional financial markets, liquidity is relatively easy to understand.
A publicly traded stock may have thousands or millions of potential buyers.
A $15 million oceanfront condominium may have dozens.
A $40 million penthouse may have only a handful at any particular moment.
That does not necessarily make the residence a bad asset.
It means its exit market is narrower.
Luxury real estate therefore requires separating two concepts:
Price strength — what qualified buyers are willing to pay.
Liquidity — how reliably the market produces another qualified buyer.
The most desirable Miami properties can score extraordinarily high on the first while remaining naturally constrained on the second.
What the $5M+ Miami Trophy Market Shows
The table below summarizes the selected MLS sample of closed sales since January 2025 and current $5M+ active inventory.
| Building | $5M+ Closed Sales | Current $5M+ Active | Median Reported Closed CDOM | Approx. Median Sold $/SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estates at Acqualina | 26 | 19 | 259 | $2,243 |
| Surf Club Four Seasons | 21 | 2 | 169 | $4,459 |
| Continuum | 20 | 14 | 98 | $3,646 |
| Five Park | 17 | 6 | 187 | $2,552 |
| Oceana Bal Harbour | 15 | 9 | 215 | $2,769 |
| St. Regis Bal Harbour | 11 | 11 | 267 | $2,273 |
| Apogee | 8 | 1 | 285 | $3,418 |
| Jade Signature | 6 | 3 | 330 | $2,080 |
| Faena House | 5 | 1 | 145 | $3,662 |
| Ritz-Carlton Sunny Isles | 5 | 4 | 262 | $1,997 |
| Porsche Design Tower | 3 | 16 | 1,814 | $1,645 |
| Eighty Seven Park | 3 | 2 | 343 | $4,545 |
These figures should not be interpreted as a definitive ranking of the buildings.
The buildings contain different numbers of residences. Some are newer than others. Some sales are penthouses or combined units. Newer developments may also include developer or early post-delivery transactions rather than mature resale activity.
But the differences are significant enough to tell us something important:
Trophy-condo liquidity is highly building-specific.
Surf Club: Trophy Pricing With Demonstrated Transaction Depth
The Surf Club Four Seasons produces perhaps the most interesting combination in the sample.
There were 21 closed sales above $5 million, compared with only two $5M+ residences currently offered in the report.
More importantly, the transaction depth extends far beyond the lower edge of our $5 million threshold.
Recent closings include approximately:
- $44.0 million
- $38.2 million
- $33.0 million
- $30.25 million
- $27.32 million
- $24.89 million
- $20.5 million
- $19.5 million
- $18.35 million
The building isn’t merely producing transactions.
It is repeatedly producing trophy-level transactions.
That is an important distinction.
A building demonstrating recurring eight-figure demand provides different evidence from one where the record penthouse sold once several years ago.
Continuum: A Deep South of Fifth Resale Market
Continuum presents a different kind of liquidity.
Its two towers contain a broader variety of residence sizes and price points, creating more opportunities for transactions.
The dataset includes 20 closings above $5 million alongside 14 current $5M+ listings.
What stands out is the reported marketing time.
Among closed transactions with usable CDOM information, the median was approximately 98 days—one of the shortest figures among the larger samples in this analysis.
Recent sales span approximately $5 million to nearly $24 million.
That breadth matters.
A buyer at Continuum is not relying exclusively on one penthouse transaction to establish a market.
There is an active history of buyers purchasing residences at several price levels.
Five Park Is Building a Market Quickly
Five Park deserves separate treatment because it is not yet a mature resale market.
The development produced 17 recorded $5M+ closings in the selected dataset, with six $5M+ residences currently active.
Transactions include a $17.5 million penthouse sale, approximately $9 million sales, and multiple closings between roughly $5 million and $7.3 million.
That is substantial transaction activity for a newly delivered building.
But there is an important caveat.
Some early Five Park transactions may represent developer or initial post-delivery activity rather than a mature owner-to-owner resale market.
For that reason, I would not directly compare Five Park’s 17 closings with 17 closings in a mature twenty-year-old condominium.
The more useful conclusion is:
Five Park appears to be establishing a high-end transaction market quickly.
What happens over the next several years—after the initial delivery cycle ends—will tell us much more about true secondary-market liquidity.
Five Park and South of Fifth condo values” → South of Fifth Condo Values 2026
Oceana Bal Harbour Shows Depth Across Multiple Price Tiers
Oceana Bal Harbour recorded 15 $5M+ closings against nine current active listings in the sample.
The sales also span a meaningful range.
At the trophy end, #2601 sold for approximately $29 million, while an upper penthouse transaction reached $22 million.
But Oceana also generated a substantial number of sales between approximately $6 million and $13 million.
That matters because liquidity isn’t only about setting records.
It is about whether the building continually produces buyers across multiple residence types.
Oceana’s recent history suggests a relatively broad luxury resale market rather than one dependent exclusively upon occasional penthouse transactions.
St. Regis Bal Harbour: More Inventory Competing for the Buyer
St. Regis Bal Harbour recorded 11 $5M+ closings in the selected period.
There were also 11 active $5M+ listings in the current snapshot.
That doesn’t mean the building is illiquid.
But it does mean today’s seller faces meaningful internal competition.
A buyer considering one St. Regis residence can often consider several others at the same time.
And in a building containing multiple towers, lines, exposures and floor plans, sellers need to know exactly where their residence fits.
At the trophy level, your competition isn’t always “Miami Beach.”
Sometimes your most important competition is three elevators away.
Apogee and Faena House: Scarcity Changes the Math
Raw transaction counts can become misleading in boutique buildings.
Apogee recorded eight $5M+ closings while only one residence was active in the current report.
Faena House showed five closings and one active listing.
Those numbers should not automatically be compared with a larger development such as Continuum or Estates at Acqualina.
Why?
Because fewer residences exist to trade.
A boutique building can produce relatively few transactions simply because owners rarely sell.
That is scarcity, not necessarily weak liquidity.
Apogee’s recent closings included multiple transactions from approximately $12.5 million to $14.8 million, while Faena House recorded $20 million and $16 million sales in 2026.
This distinction is critical.
Low turnover caused by satisfied owners is very different from low turnover caused by an absence of buyers.
Eighty Seven Park Shows Why Closed Count Alone Can Mislead
Eighty Seven Park had only three $5M+ closings in the selected period.
At first glance, that might look like thin liquidity.
But there were also only two current $5M+ listings in the report.
And those three transactions were substantial:
- approximately $29 million
- $14 million
- $11.5 million
The penthouse sold after a reported 64 CDOM, while the other two transactions carried longer marketing periods.
The point isn’t that Eighty Seven Park is especially liquid or illiquid.
It’s that three sales in a boutique building with two competing listings means something very different from three sales in a building carrying sixteen listings.
Porsche Design Tower Is the Outlier Worth Watching
Porsche Design Tower presents the sharpest contrast in this particular dataset.
There were 16 active listings above $5 million and only three closed $5M+ transactions.
Those three closings carried reported CDOM of:
2,923 days
226 days
1,814 days
The sales closed for approximately $13 million, $7.6 million and $5.15 million.
Meanwhile, current $5M+ inventory ranges from approximately $5.2 million to a $47.5 million penthouse, with several active listings carrying hundreds—or even thousands—of cumulative days on market.
That does not establish that Porsche Design Tower is undesirable.
Nor does it prove that every owner should expect a multi-year sale.
The sample is small, residence types vary dramatically, and CDOM itself can reflect relisting history and unusual seller strategies.
But it does demonstrate something a buyer should understand:
Recent $5M+ resale depth has been thin relative to the amount of competing inventory currently offered.
That’s a real market consideration.
Estates at Acqualina Has Volume—But Also Competition
Estates at Acqualina generated the largest raw transaction count in the analysis: 26 $5M+ closings.
It also carried the largest substantial active inventory after Porsche, with 19 $5M+ offerings in the report.
The closed transactions range from roughly $6 million into the mid-$20 millions, demonstrating considerable buyer participation across both towers.
But the active inventory matters.
A seller isn’t merely competing with recent comparable sales.
They’re competing with what a buyer can purchase today.
In newer luxury developments, that can include nearly identical floor plans, competing towers and residences delivered within only a few years of each other.
Why Active Inventory Changes the Exit Equation
Imagine two buildings.
Building A has recorded ten recent sales and currently has one residence available.
Building B has also recorded ten recent sales but currently has fifteen comparable residences available.
Those buildings do not present the same resale environment.
A future seller in Building B must persuade a buyer not merely to purchase the building—but to purchase their particular residence instead of fourteen alternatives.
That is why trophy-condo liquidity should consider both:
demonstrated buyer demand
and
available substitutes.
The Penthouse Problem
Penthouses create another analytical trap.
One extraordinary penthouse can sit on the market for years without saying much about the liquidity of the conventional residences beneath it.
The buyer pool for a $50 million penthouse is dramatically narrower than the buyer pool for a $6 million three-bedroom residence.
Conversely, one record penthouse closing doesn’t prove every residence in the building is highly liquid.
This is why I would never evaluate a Miami condominium’s resale prospects using the building’s headline record sale alone.
The Exit Test
Before paying a major premium for a Miami luxury condominium, I would ask seven questions.
1. How many comparable residences have actually sold?
Not merely in Miami.
Not merely in the neighborhood.
In this building.
2. How many are competing for buyers right now?
Current supply can matter as much as historical demand.
3. How interchangeable is the residence?
A unique floor plan or protected view may have fewer substitutes.
4. Is the buyer pool broad or extremely specialized?
The higher the price, the smaller the buyer universe generally becomes.
5. Does the building generate repeat trophy transactions?
One record sale is interesting.
Repeated high-value closings establish deeper evidence.
6. How long have comparable residences required to sell?
CDOM isn’t perfect, but persistent multi-hundred-day marketing periods deserve investigation.
7. If I needed to sell in three years, who is the next buyer?
That may be the most important question.
What This Means for Miami Luxury Buyers
Luxury buyers often spend enormous time negotiating the purchase price.
They should spend nearly as much time evaluating the future exit.
That doesn’t mean choosing the building with the most transactions.
A scarce residence in a boutique building may be more desirable precisely because few ever become available.
Instead, understand what kind of asset you’re buying.
Is it:
highly scarce and rarely available?
widely recognized with demonstrated resale demand?
new and still establishing its secondary market?
or
one of many similar residences currently competing for a limited buyer pool?
Those are very different ownership propositions. Liquidity is the last of eight inputs that decide whether a luxury premium is ever recovered. The other seven, from water access and view permanence to finish level and amenity programming, are set out in the irreplaceability premium framework. A residence nobody can reproduce and nobody is currently buying is rare rather than valuable.
What This Means for Sellers
For sellers, liquidity analysis changes pricing strategy.
If your building has multiple comparable residences sitting unsold, pricing above all of them simply because yours is “better” may not create leverage.
It may create another listing.
Conversely, if virtually nothing comparable is available and the building has demonstrated repeated buyer demand, scarcity can justify a more aggressive strategy.
The relevant question isn’t:
“What is the highest asking price in my building?”
It is:
“Where is the evidence that a buyer will transact?”
Frequently Asked Questions
What does condo liquidity mean?
In luxury real estate, liquidity describes how readily a property can attract a qualified buyer and transact at a market-supported price. Trophy properties naturally tend to be less liquid than mass-market housing because their buyer pools are smaller.
Which Miami luxury condo has the most $5M+ sales?
Within this selected January 2025 through September 2026 MLS sample, Estates at Acqualina had the highest raw number of $5M+ closings, followed by Surf Club, Continuum and Five Park. Raw transaction count should not be interpreted as a direct liquidity ranking because building size and development stage vary.
Does a long days-on-market number mean a building is undesirable?
No. CDOM can be affected by ambitious pricing, relisting history, extraordinary penthouses, seller motivation and a very small buyer pool. It is most useful when considered alongside transaction count and current competing inventory.
Are boutique luxury condos less liquid?
Not necessarily. Boutique buildings may show fewer annual transactions simply because they contain fewer residences and owners sell less frequently.
Does new construction have better resale liquidity?
Not automatically. New developments may generate significant initial transaction activity, but a true secondary-market track record takes time to develop.
Should buyers consider resale before purchasing a trophy condo?
Yes. Even buyers expecting to hold long term benefit from understanding the likely future buyer pool, competing inventory and historical transaction depth of the building.
Final Takeaway
Miami’s trophy condo market does not have one liquidity profile.
A Surf Club residence, Continuum condominium, Five Park unit and Porsche Design Tower residence may all be described as ultra-luxury Miami condos.
Their resale markets can behave very differently.
The highest-value buyer doesn’t simply ask:
“What is this residence worth?”
A more sophisticated question is:
“How many buyers are likely to agree with me when I eventually want to sell it?”
That is the other side of trophy value.
Buying or Selling a Miami Trophy Condo?
If you’re considering a luxury residence at Surf Club Four Seasons, Continuum, Apogee, Five Park, Faena House, Oceana Bal Harbour, St. Regis Bal Harbour, Jade Signature, Porsche Design Tower, Eighty Seven Park, Ritz-Carlton Sunny Isles or Estates at Acqualina, I can help you evaluate more than the asking price.
We can examine the building’s relevant closed sales, current competition, pricing history, residence-specific attributes and likely resale positioning before you make a major decision.
Contact Ashton Coleman to discuss the residence you’re considering or request a confidential pricing and resale analysis.
Miami Luxury Condos for Sale | Miami Penthouses for Sale | Miami Oceanfront Condos for Sale
Methodology & Data Disclosure
This analysis is based on supplied SEFMLS/Matrix condominium records for 12 selected Miami-Dade luxury buildings. The dataset includes $5 million-plus closed transactions primarily from January 1, 2025 through September 2026 and a current snapshot of $5 million-plus active listings.
Closed-sale counts include records meeting the supplied MLS search criteria. Median CDOM and approximate median sold $/SF calculations use transactions where the relevant listing-price, CDOM and sold-price-per-square-foot fields were available. Records with incomplete listing-history fields were excluded from those calculations where applicable.
Building size, number of residences, initial developer closings, combined units, penthouses, off-market transactions and other factors can materially affect apparent transaction depth. This article therefore does not rank buildings by a mathematically standardized turnover rate.
MLS information is believed accurate but is not guaranteed.
Disclaimer
This article is provided for general real estate information and marketing purposes and is not an appraisal, financial, tax, legal or investment opinion. Individual residences, marketability and resale outcomes vary substantially. Buyers and sellers should evaluate property-specific information and current market conditions before making a real estate decision.
