By Coral Gables Gazette staff

The average market value of a homesteaded residential property in Coral Gables has climbed above $2.15 million, the highest figure among Miami-Dade municipalities with at least 5,000 homesteaded parcels, according to the county Property Appraiser’s newly released preliminary 2026 figures.

Coral Gables’ 10,844 homesteaded properties carry an average “just,” or market, value of $2,152,678. Miami Beach, the next-highest municipality above the 5,000-parcel threshold, averages $1,756,536 across 14,080 homesteaded properties.

The numbers offer more than a measure of the city’s residential wealth. They also illustrate how dramatically the value of a home on the open market can differ from the value on which a longtime Florida homeowner is taxed.

In Coral Gables, the median homestead is valued at nearly $1.49 million but carries a median taxable value of about $616,000.

What the county’s new report shows

The Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s 2026 preliminary report, dated July 1, covers 446,379 homesteaded residential parcels countywide and provides average and median just, assessed and taxable values for each municipality.

“Just value” generally represents market value. “Assessed value” reflects the effects of assessment limitations such as Florida’s Save Our Homes benefit, which limits annual increases in the assessed value of qualifying homesteaded property to 3 percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. Taxable value reflects assessed value after applicable exemptions.

For Coral Gables, the averages are $2,152,678 in just value, $1,148,828 in assessed value and $1,091,863 in taxable value.

The medians — less influenced by a relatively small number of exceptionally expensive properties — in the City Beautiful are considerably lower: $1,486,179 in just value, $669,378 in assessed value and $615,658 in taxable value.

That means the median market value of a Coral Gables homestead is nearly $1.5 million, even though the median taxable value is less than half that amount.

Coral Gables leads the larger municipalities

Among municipalities with at least 5,000 homesteaded parcels, none has a higher average just value than Coral Gables.

Miami Beach ranks next at $1,756,536, followed well behind by Palmetto Bay at $927,859 and Miami at $789,449. The City of Miami has 41,247 homesteaded parcels, nearly four times Coral Gables’ total.

Several smaller and highly affluent municipalities do surpass Coral Gables.

Indian Creek sits in a category of its own, with an average just value of $69.1 million across only 15 homesteaded properties. Golden Beach averages $7.89 million across 240 parcels; Bal Harbour $3.39 million across 693; Key Biscayne $2.31 million across 2,824; and Pinecrest $2.17 million across 4,495.

Pinecrest is particularly notable: its average of $2,171,874 is only about $19,000 above Coral Gables, but its homestead count falls below the 5,000-parcel threshold used to compare the county’s larger municipalities.

At the other end of the table, Florida City averages $321,637, Opa-locka $322,160, Homestead $351,623 and Miami Gardens $360,797. Hialeah, with 31,533 homesteaded parcels, averages $398,138.

The average Coral Gables homestead therefore carries a market value about 6.7 times the average in Opa-locka.

Why market value and the tax bill can diverge sharply

The gap between market and taxable value is one of the most striking features of the report.

Florida’s Save Our Homes system limits how quickly the assessed value of an established homestead can rise even when its market value increases much faster. Over many years of ownership, the difference between market value and assessed value can become substantial. The Property Appraiser describes that accumulated difference as the homeowner’s Save Our Homes benefit.

Portability can allow qualifying homeowners who move to transfer as much as $500,000 of that assessment differential to another Florida homestead.

Countywide, the median homestead has a just value of $459,837, an assessed value of $245,068 and a taxable value of $188,637. The median taxable figure is about 41 percent of the median market value.

Coral Gables is remarkably similar on that measure despite its much higher property values. Its median taxable value of $615,658 is about 41.4 percent of its $1,486,179 median just value.

That should not be read to mean that the typical individual homeowner is taxed on exactly 41.4 percent of the home’s market value; the figures are separate medians across thousands of properties. But they illustrate the size of the collective assessment gap created by years of homestead protections.

In some municipalities, that divide is considerably wider. Opa-locka’s median just value is $318,412, while its median taxable value is $57,337 — about 18 percent as large.

What the ranking does — and does not — measure

The report covers homesteaded residential property, not the entirety of a municipality’s property-tax base. Commercial buildings, rental properties, second homes and other non-homesteaded real estate are not represented in these figures.

Nor does a high average homestead value necessarily translate directly into proportionately higher municipal tax collections. Assessment caps, exemptions, ownership tenure and local millage rates all affect what ultimately appears on a property-tax bill. Miami-Dade taxing authorities, including municipalities, the county and School Board, apply their rates to the taxable values applicable to them.

What the new report does show clearly is the position Coral Gables occupies within Miami-Dade’s residential market: among the county’s municipalities with substantial numbers of homesteaded properties, none carries a higher average market value.