Larry Page’s Coconut Grove Double Purchase Signals a New Ultra-Luxury Playbook in South Florida

A reported $173.4 million two-home buying move by Google co-founder Larry Page highlights how today’s ultra-wealthy are treating South Florida real estate as a portfolio: privacy, control, and optionality across multiple assets. From Coconut Grove acreage to Miami Beach’s branded residences, the market is being shaped by compound strategies, residency timing, and a rising premium on security and adjacency.

Miami vs. the Caribbean: The New Second-Home Equation for Ultra-Wealthy Buyers

Miami’s second-home story has shifted from lifestyle upgrade to strategic positioning. In recent residential real estate analysis, Miami was ranked as the global epicenter for ultra-wealthy second homes, with roughly 13,200 ultra-high-net-worth individuals reported to own second homes here. At the same time, tax policy headlines, including a proposed California “Billionaire Tax Act” framework described as a one-time 5% excise tax on worldwide net worth above $1 billion, have sharpened the contrast between U.S. metros and offshore alternatives. For South Florida buyers, the real comparison is not “Miami or an island.” It is “Miami plus an island,” or “Miami as the operational base with optionality elsewhere.” The Caribbean remains compelling for privacy, seclusion, and residency pathways in certain jurisdictions. Yet Miami’s advantage is institutional: depth of healthcare, market liquidity and transparency, aviation and marine services, and a year-round social and cultural calendar. This is why the conversation has become less about pure escape and more about building a second-home portfolio that performs under scrutiny, whether that scrutiny is financial, familial, or geopolitical.

Why New Yorkers Call Miami the Sixth Borough: Luxury Second-Home Demand

In South Florida, the idea of Miami as New York’s “sixth borough” has become shorthand for a lifestyle migration that is as much about time and climate as it is about capital. For luxury buyers, the second-home conversation now centers on privacy, ease of ownership, and a seamless lock-and-leave rhythm that fits demanding schedules. From waterfront mornings to art-driven nights, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach offer a modern alternative to the traditional seasonal home, with neighborhoods that read like distinct micro-cities.