A Starter Home In This SWFL Community Is Over $1.6 Million
Although the typical starter home nationwide is valued at less than $200,000, there are 11 communities in Florida where you’ll need more than a million to buy a starter home. Two of those areas are right here in Southwest Florida, and no – it’s not Naples.
The number of cities where a starter home is worth $1 million or more has grown from 84 five years ago to 237 today. Nearly half of those are in California. Although Florida is more affordable, there are still 11 communities here where you’ll need over a million dollars just to get that first home. Remember when having a million dollar home meant you were rich? It wasn’t that long ago.
The typical “starter home” — defined for this analysis as being among those in the lowest third of home values in a given region — is growing increasingly out of reach for many a new Zillow® analysis finds. The most expensive? Well, that would be Jupiter Island in the Port St. Lucie, Florida metro area. The typical starter home value there is – $5,973,449. Who can afford that? Well, some of the current and former residents include sports legends Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Michael Jordan, Nick Saban, and Joe Namath.
If you want a glimpse of Jupiter Island, the video for “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere” by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett was filmed at Jupiter’s Square Grouper Tiki Bar.
Places In Florida Where A Starter Home Is Over A Million
Let’s take a look at where in Florida you’ll need a mil plus just to get a start. 2 of which are on the Florida Gulf Coast.
| City | State | Metro Area | Typical Starter Home Value (June 2024) |
| Jupiter Island | FL | Port St. Lucie, FL | $5,973,449 |
| Golden Beach | FL | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | $4,418,704 |
| Fisher Island | FL | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | $3,030,623 |
| Jupiter Inlet Colony | FL | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | $3,024,928 |
| Golf | FL | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | $1,902,687 |
| Boca Grande | FL | Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL | $1,650,694 |
| Manalapan | FL | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | $1,532,929 |
| Anna Maria | FL | North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL | $1,517,890 |
| Gulf Stream | FL | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | $1,162,700 |
| Pinecrest | FL | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | $1,136,030 |
| Southwest Ranches | FL | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | $1,030,634 |
In Boca Grande, part of our own Cape Coral – Fort Myers metro, you’ll need $1.6 million for a home on the low end. I did find a one bed, one bath condo you could get for just $765,000 on the low low end, but taking a look at listings, the lowest priced single family home I could find was $3,250,000. Island life ain’t cheap.
Another community in our Southwest Florida area is Anna Maria where a typical starter home can be found for about one and a half million. Now, there’s actually a way to live on this island on the cheap, if you don’t mind basically living in a big shed. Checking the listings, I found there’s a couple of 2 bed/1 bath “homes” for sale well under the mean, both listed for $745,000. One is 720 sq ft, the other is 492 sq ft. Not ritzy, but you’d be a resident.
Some Potential Good News
“Home buyers are battling affordability and availability today. So much so that $1 million is the norm for a starter home in hundreds of cities,” said Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist at Zillow. “However, it’s looking more and more like there will be some good news ahead for first-time buyers. More homes are for sale, price cuts are on the rise, and buyers have a few more days to weigh their options as homes sit on the market.”
Still out of reach? Well, there’s always Florida Lottery scratch off tickets. Good luck!
The 7 Florida Lottery Scratch Offs With All Top Prizes Remaining
$20 MONOPOLY™ SECRET VAULT
The Florida Lottery issued several new Monopoly games on July 1st. This is the $20 one. 4 people can claim a $5 million dollar grand prize, and no one has yet.
$10 MONOPOLY™ SECRET VAULT
EDIT: As I was writing this article, this ticket updated and showed that one of the four $2 million dollar winning tickets had been claimed. The winning ticket was sold at the Speedway on Palm Beach Blvd in Fort Myers. So – 3 of the 4 big winners are still out there.
$5 MONOPOLY™ SECRET VAULT
For 6 lucky scratchers, $5 can get you a million. Like the other Monopoly cards, this one just came out so there’s not a lot of data on them. The Monopoly cards are always popular, so I’d definitely expect to see these at the counter.
$2 MONOPOLY™ SECRET VAULT
I love the $2 tickets because they’re great for gift giving. Shove 5 of these in a birthday card and you are good. Want to really feel good? Hand some out at a nursing home. 8 grand prize winners will win $100,000.
$1 MONOPOLY™ SECRET VAULT
A big thank you to the Florida Lottery for still making $1 tickets. I wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t, with inflation, their profit margin on these cannot be great. The same things I said about the $2 tickets holds true with the $1 ones. Great for gifts. EDIT: Ok, so 2 of the 20 $10,000 grand prize tickets have been claimed. One in Boynton Beach at a Publix, and one in Haines City at a 7-11. So, 18 of the 20 top prizes remain.
GOLD RUSH LEGACY
Ok, let’s get away from the Monopoly games and on to this one. It’s a bit of an outlier in that the game came out in April and none of the four $10 million dollar grand prizes have been claimed, yet. The secondary prize of $1 million still has 17 of the 20 winning tickets out there. It’s a $20 ticket that seems to not be hitting. Is it due? Who knows. I’m just putting out the data, but I do plan on looking for this one when I go to Publix tonight. Wish me luck.
500X THE CASH
There’s my nemesis. I dropped a hundred dollars picking up 2 of these and won nothing. The game has two $25 million dollar winning tickets out there and 121 of 160 of the $1 million dollar winning tickets yet to be claimed. The Florida Lottery released this game back in January, so it’s not new. It’s just that no one has hit it big yet.
