A star-spangled home: Florida, New York and Aspen

From Aspen to Palm Beach, the combination of low inventory and buyers in search of a golden lifestyle are among the reasons why the US prime property market is set to outperform the wider US housing market. That’s the main theme of the latest Knight Frank US Residential Market Insight which highlights the dramatic price growth since the start of 2020.  

“There is plenty of positivity in the US market right now,” says Oliver Banks, Partner in the International Residential Developments Team. “Last week, New York for example registered the highest volume of sales since December 2021. In most major markets, supply remains an issue, and especially supply of new-build homes. Even in Manhattan, a rare location where inventory is rising, the vast majority are resales. Most new developments – Giorgio Armani Residences and The Surrey Residences for example – have been boutique in size and sold rapidly.”

Two eye-catching Manhattan developments represent an uplifting mix of old-world tradition and contemporary style: Waldorf Astoria Residences New York in Midtown and The Greenwich by Rafael Viñoly in Downtown.

In Park Avenue, the Art Deco façade of the Waldorf Astoria is a New York landmark, one that has welcomed celebrities, royalty and global statesmen and women for decades. Now, after a seven year renovation, it is preparing to welcome guests once again, this time with residences for sale. The hotel is scheduled to open in Spring 2025 by which time the first residents will already be settled into their new homes.

Waldorf Astoria Residences New York has studio to four bedroom apartments with interiors by French designer Jean-Louis Denoit. Owners have access to the hotel’s 100,000 square feet of facilities as well as 50,000 square feet reserved solely for them: lounges, gyms, spa, a plant-filled Winter Garden, 6,000 square feet of outdoor space on the 26th floor with views to the Chrysler Building and a saltwater pool overlooking Park Avenue.

There’s also a saltwater pool at The Greenwich by Rafael Viñoly, a newly launched 88-storey glass tower with studios and apartments priced from $1,125,000. The top three floors are given over to leisure and sports facilities, creating, says Banks, a private members’ club atmosphere.

“The building itself is strikingly beautiful while the location, close to the Financial District with the restaurants and boutiques of Tribeca an easy walk away, will appeal to a wide mix of businesspeople, young professionals and families,” he says. “Unlike many New York towers, The Greenwich offers studios from the 61st floor upwards, pied-a-terres with a superb view.”

In the southern US state of Florida, the US Residential Market Insight records that prestigious Palm Beach has registered an 111.9% increase in prime prices since January 2020, the highest recorded in its research. Demand was super-charged post-Covid by lifestyle buyers, many relocating from right across the USA.

“Palm Beach has only 2,300 homes in total and no new developments which is one reason why buyers are looking across the water to West Palm Beach,” says Banks. “There’s considerable high-end office construction underway there at present, servicing good demand from domestic and international companies, and the area has become a bustling and well-connected town. It is now linked to Miami in just over one hour and Orlando in two hours by The Brightline, a high-speed intercity rail route.”

Mr C. Residences in the heart of West Palm Beach, are the town’s first branded residences attached to a hotel, offering apartments from $1,300,000. The development comes from the Cipriani team, a follow up to their extremely successful project in Coconut Grove and has superb facilities and design that elegantly merges European old world sophistication with contemporary comfort. 

“Given the severe shortage of inventory in Palm Beach, the lack of any new-build homes there and the strong demand for property locally, these apartments and their price point should appeal to both lifestyle buyers and investors,” says Banks.

On Miami Beach itself, The Shore Club Private Collection has brought renewed elegance to one of Florida’s most glamorous locations. With a notable design by acclaimed firm Robert A.M. Stern Architects and a prime three-acre beachfront location, the property has 49 private residences alongside the new Shore Club Hotel. Residents have complimentary social membership of the exclusive Greg Norman-designed Shell Bay Golf Club as well as superb private facilities and dedicated personal staff, all the attributes for a magnificent Miami lifestyle.

The Colorado ski resort of Aspen outperformed not only the national US prime market but also global markets, with luxury prices rising 73.5% between January 2020 and October 2024. In-depth analysis from the Aspen Residential Market Insight 2024/25 shows that prices rose close to 10% in the year to October 2024, the strongest rate of price growth of all the prime locations surveyed. Anyone who invested $5,000,000 in a prime Aspen property in 2020 would now have a home worth $8,500,000.

The reasons for Aspen’s success are easy to list, says Banks. The resort is a secure and handsome enclave offering fresh air, a healthy lifestyle, an excellent climate in both summer and winter with low humidity and all the high-end amenities you need to live and work year-round.

“Aspen also has much more history than many North American ski resorts and, for the sophisticated buyer, plenty of cultural activities from music and food festivals to the arts,” he says. “The post-pandemic surge in demand for rural and secluded properties has helped Aspen realise record-breaking prices for absolute best in class homes. It may seem repetitive to say, but at every price point, there is an intense shortage of supply. Very little comes up for sale while as with most mountain resorts, land for new-build homes is limited by the topography.”

Making the most of the topography to provide one of Aspen’s best ski-in-and-out locations, a six-bedroom property on Exhibition Road is a prime example of the luxury properties in the resort.  The home, built in 2009, maximises the wide mountain view with vast windows and has over 9,000 square feet of living space in a plot of over half an acre.

While overall, US residential markets are characterised by caution following a period of elevated buying costs, activity in the most in-demand prime markets defies the mainstream. “Southern Florida in particular has seen an astonishing rate of growth,” concluded Banks. “Relocators from USA’s northeast in general, and New York in particular, helped Florida become the country’s fastest growing state in 2022 and that shows no sign of abating. And while the growth was driven initially by domestic movement, the signs are that Florida is gaining evermore international attention too.”