Mar-a-Lago Effect Powers Another Jump In South Florida Condo Cliff Index™

In this Miami Condo Exchange™ episode, Peter Zalewski discusses how investment around President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is raising the prospects of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.The Miami Condo Exchange™ is a live podcast at 4 pm (Miami time) on Tuesdays about the latest South Florida condo stats, metrics and trends hosted by expert Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™.Recorded weekly in Greater Downtown Miami, the program’s core premise is to analyze condos as commodities, no different than pork bellies, oil or salty snacks.The weekly show intends to cut through the marketing hype to focus strictly on the numbers for investors and real estate professionals.A regular feature of the Tuesday show is the Miami Condo Cliff Index™, which tracks active listings and pending sales in realtime to forecast official closed sales data that lags by 30 to 120 days.Tune in every Tuesday at 4 PM (EST) at MiamiCondo.Club or on the social media account of Peter Zalewski to watch the livestreams free.Episode OverviewIn the Feb. 24, 2026, episode of the Miami Condo Exchange™ podcast, host Peter Zalewski discusses how the South Florida Overall Condo Cliff Index™ increased 2.49% to an all-time high of 8.66 points as the "Mar-a-Lago effect" creates a breakaway lead for Palm Beach County.This latest Week-over-Week jump follows a climb to 8.45 points on Feb. 17, 2026, marking the highest level recorded since the Overall Index was established on Jan. 1, 2025.During the 58-minute podcast, Zalewski analyzed the widening performance gap between the South Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach as the Winter Buying Season enters its final stretch.The market momentum is currently being driven by a power shift toward "Wall Street South," where the halo effect of the Trump estate and a new Vanderbilt University campus are acting as high-octane fuel for the northern corridor.With the symbolic hurdles of the Coconut Grove Arts Festival and the Miami Beach International Boat Show now cleared, sellers face a narrowing window to find a buyer before Summer’s heat, humidity and hurricane warnings thin the investor pool beginning in May.Concurrently, the South Florida Vintage Condo Cliff Index™ climbed 2.17% this week to reach 8.15 points for the week ending Feb. 24, 2026.This move for Vintage condos—at least 30 years old—follows a rise to 7.98 points on Feb. 17, 2026, from 7.55 points on Feb. 10, 2026.Vintage units remain the workhorse of the tricounty market, accounting for nearly 69% of all active listings and about 65% of pending sales across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.Zalewski attributed the heavy Vintage volume to a “capitulation” by sellers who are discounting prices to escape the financial burden of mandatory inspections and 10% interest rates on association loans.Savvy buyers are treating these inspected units as a “value play,” often securing them at a 50% discount compared to the Overall condo market, with some coastal pockets such as Sunny Isles Beach seeing discounts as high as nearly 80%.