Corporate America has developed a serious crush on South Florida, and the proof is showing up in office towers and home sale prices alike. According to data reported by Realtor.com, the region’s commercial real estate boom is now spilling directly into residential demand, creating one of the more unusual housing stories in the country.
Start with the vacancy numbers. The national office vacancy rate is stuck around 17.6%, leaving a glut of empty cubicles and conference rooms across most U.S. cities. South Florida is bucking that trend hard. West Palm Beach and Boca Raton report vacancy of just 11.3%, and Miami trails closely at 12.8%, figures sourced from Miami Realtors.
A handful of major leases illustrate the momentum. ServiceNow snapped up 200,000 square feet at 10 CityPlace in West Palm Beach, while Wells Fargo took 50,000 square feet at One Flagler nearby. In Miami’s Brickell district, already anchored by Citadel, Microsoft, and Banco Santander inside the 830 Brickell tower, vacancy has shrunk to a razor-thin 3.7%.
The appeal isn’t just sunshine. Florida’s corporate tax rate of 5.5% undercuts states like New Jersey, where the rate climbs to 11.5%, and the state charges no sales tax on commercial rent. Combined with a business-friendly regulatory climate, those incentives have turned Miami into a landing pad for companies that once would have stayed put in legacy hubs.
The list of new tenants keeps growing. Amazon took 50,000 square feet in Wynwood, a neighborhood that not long ago was known mostly for murals and independent art galleries. Palantir, the AI company founded by Peter Thiel, chose the same area for its headquarters. Apple, Uber, and Verizon have all moved in as well, and the workers who fill those offices need housing nearby.
Where the new workforce is choosing to live
Miltiadis Kastanis, an agent with Compass, describes the connection between Miami’s office and housing markets as tightly linked right now, naming Brickell, Coconut Grove, Miami Beach, Downtown, Key Biscayne, Coral Gables, and Wynwood as the neighborhoods seeing the most action from relocating employees, according to Realtor.com.
He notes a generational split in buying habits. Junior staffers typically rent upscale apartments close to the office, while senior leaders shop for houses that offer privacy, larger lots, water access, and strong school districts.
Chris Wands, who leads The Wands Team at Douglas Elliman, has guided transplants from Boeing, Bank of America, and Amazon through the move. Nearly all of them rent first, he says, before eventually deciding to buy once they’ve adjusted to the area, Realtor.com reports.
Wands also points out that dollars stretch further in Miami than in the cities many of these buyers are leaving. Even at the $5 million mark, he says budgets go noticeably farther locally than in comparable major metros, prompting newcomers to rethink what’s possible once they arrive, per Realtor.com.
Housing preferences split largely by life stage. Single professionals and younger couples favor modern condo towers with heavy amenities, putting Brickell, Downtown, and Edgewater near the top of their lists, since those areas offer walkability, gyms, security, and proximity to nightlife, Wands tells Realtor.com.
Developers are capitalizing on that appetite. A new project called The Rider, a 152-unit building sitting directly across from Amazon’s Wynwood offices, has built its identity around a music-driven, rock-and-roll theme, with oversized facade portraits of artists including Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, and Madonna. The building is already more than halfway sold.
Buyers with families tend to want something different entirely, gravitating toward strong school zones, larger homes, private yards, and neighborhoods with a genuine sense of community, which steers many toward Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Pinecrest, or Miami Beach, Wands tells Realtor.com.
Coconut Grove specifically has drawn an especially wealthy crowd, including hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin and Google co-founder Larry Page. Most buyers Wands works with land somewhere between $3 million and $7 million, though company founders and top executives frequently exceed that range.
Despite all this corporate-fueled demand, the wider Miami-West Palm Beach housing market is actually cooling slightly. Realtor.com’s May 2026 Monthly Housing Report shows the median list price slipped 2.2% to $499,000, and 15.3% of listings included a price cut, a touch lower than the prior year but still leaving meaningful room for buyers to negotiate.
Even with rising prices overall, transplants from costlier markets still walk away feeling like they came out ahead. As Wands puts it, people relocating from places like New York, California, or Chicago tend to see South Florida as comparatively affordable, according to Realtor.com.
